Man Who Filmed Kids In Bathroom Gets 20 Years For Child Porn

CHEVY CHASE, MD — A Chevy Chase man who secretly filmed children using bathrooms in his house has been sentenced on charges of producing and possessing child pornography, according to federal prosecutors.

In U.S. District Court on Monday, 55-year-old Jonathan Mark Oldale was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. As a result of his conviction, the Chevy Chase resident must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student. Oldale is also required to pay a $400,000 money judgment in lieu of forfeiture of his interest in his home, which he had used to facilitate the crimes.

According to his plea agreement, Oldale would invite children in June and July of 2017 to backyard "splash parties" at his house. Prosecutors said Oldale would also send e-mailed invitations to their parents.

"Children would become covered with grass while playing on an inflatable structure in the backyard," prosecutors said. "Oldale encouraged the children to change clothes or take showers before they went home."

According to officials with the U.S. State's Attorney's Office, Oldale placed hidden cameras in his bathrooms and filmed children getting showered and undressed.

Montgomery County Police found those secret recordings — and other child pornography — after executing two search warrants on his home. The first search warrant was in May 2017 — the same month police received a complaint about Oldale from an employee at a children's gymnastics facility in Silver Spring.

On May 5, an employee told police that Oldale left a backpack containing a hidden camera in the studio's bathroom. The employee found the bag under a "Wet Floor" sign. The employee explained to authorities that this wasn't the first time Oldale had left a backpack in that bathroom.

A search of Oldale's home on May 9 turned up electronic media, including three laptop computers, according to prosecutors. A digital forensic review revealed that two of the computers had access to the dark web and file names "consistent with child pornography," officials said. One of the laptops had previously been connected to a dark web site used to exchange child pornography.

The third laptop, prosecutors said, contained image and video files of children with exposed genitalia. Some of them were in public bathrooms.

The following month, police searched Oldale's home again. On June 5, officials recovered a cell phone, three "spy cameras," five MicroSD memory cards, and five USB drives. Officials said Oldale recorded more than 1,000 videos with footage from his bathrooms between May and July of 2017. The videos depicted children undressing and dressing, taking a shower, and using the toilet. Of the approximately 79 children who appeared in those videos, more than 50 were, at one point, naked.

"Jonathan Oldale invited children into his home in order to surreptitiously photograph them while they were changing clothes or using the bathroom, and attempted to do the same thing in public facilities that catered to children," said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur. "This sentence sends a clear message that we will bring to justice those who would victimize innocent children."