Crime & Safety

Columbia Man Sentenced to 11 Years for Secretly Recording Ellicott City Women

Michael McKenny pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court.

 

A Columbia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to secretly videotaping two women inside their Ellicott City condominium and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Police arrested Michael Stephen McKenny in October of 2012 after investigating a hidden camera found inside a Montgomery Run Road condo in Ellicott City.

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The investigation began in September when a 29-year-old Ellicott City woman told police she found a hidden camera in her bedroom that was focused on her bathroom.

According to charging documents, the camera, which began recording when it detected movement, secretly recorded the 29-year-old and a 30-year-old roommate in their bedrooms and bathrooms. Police determined McKenny first entered the condo on June 26, then returned at least four times to move or adjust the camera.

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During the investigation, police released footage of McKenny adjusting the camera in the condo. The night after the footage was released, he was arrested.

McKenny, 42, reportedly gained entry to the condo by stealing a key and making a copy, according to charging documents. Police said he knew the two women.

McKenny was sentenced to 11 years in prison by Howard County Judge Timothy J. McCrone. He also was ordered to be placed on five years of supervised probation upon his release and to avoid contact with his former co-workers and their employer—Merriweather Post Pavillion, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesperson for the Howard County state's attorney's office.

After release, McKenny also must consent to periodic searches of his computer by the department of parole and probation as well as obtain a psychological evaluation and sex offender counseling, according to Kirwan. He will not have to register as a sex offender, according to Kirwan.

McKenny was found guilty of three counts of third-degree burglary, one count of placing a camera in a private residence to conduct surreptitious observations and one count of conducting visual surveillance of another person in a private place without consent.

In 1991, McKenny was convicted in Prince George's County Circuit Court of attempted second-degree rape and housebreaking. 

According to John Erzen, spokesperson for the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office, McKenny received 10 years for each charge. However, a judge suspended jail time and gave him five years supervised probation.

With reporting by Patch Editor Brandie Jefferson.

Related Articles

- Man Indicted on Charges of Secretly Videotaping Ellicott CIty Women

- Police: Man Secretly Videotaped 2 Ellicott City Women (VIDEO)

- Police Arrest Suspected 'Peeping Tom'

- No Bond for Man Police Say Secretly Recorded Ellicott City Women



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