ANDERSON, Ind. — An Anderson man who hid cameras at his work and in his home — along with even standing outside a teenager’s bedroom — in order to film women in various states of undress has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Marcus Deweese Sr. pleaded guilty at the end of May to multiple counts of child exploitation and voyeurism in addition to one count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced on Wednesday to 34 years but had 14 years of the sentence suspended.
According to previous reports, the investigation into Deweese began in January 2022 after Google contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children about more than a dozen images linked to a Gmail account. An investigation by police confirmed the images were child pornography.
Detectives ended up finding more than 400 images of girls and teens between the ages of 9 and 16 saved to his account. Deweese used screen capture software to record the child sex abuse material from Tumblr.
Further investigation into Deweese unveiled that the Anderson man also had also filmed his own illegal voyeurism videos.
Police found more than 140 recordings of females in various states of undress with the victims unaware they were being recorded. Deweese hid cameras in the bathrooms of his places of employment and inside different homes where he lived to collect the footage. He reportedly hid the cameras in outlets, HVAC vents and closets.
In addition to the hidden camera videos, Deweese also filmed some victims through their windows while standing outside their homes.
One video police found was of a 15-year-old girl undressing in her bedroom. Deweese told investigators he would park his vehicle outside the teen’s home at 6 a.m. and walk up to her window to film her undressing.
Deweese told police he first started secretly filming women in 2016 when he hid a camera in the bathroom at a previous place of employment. Deweese would reportedly watch for women to walk into the bathroom and then activate the camera.
He used the videos he’d accumulated over the years for sexual gratification, he told investigators.
After serving his prison sentence, Deweese will be required to register as a sex offender.
