Man charged with using cellphone and mirror to spy on girl in bathroom
A 17-year-old Ann Arbor resident is charged with spying on a girl while she was in the bathroom of a home Tuesday, according to police and court records.
Marquell Watson
Courtesy of WCSO
Marquell Watson was arraigned Wednesday on one charge of surveilling an unclothed person, court records show. The charge carries a maximum of two years in prison and a $2,000 fine for a first-time offender.
Ann Arbor police Sgt. Mike Scherba said Thursday the incident was reported at 1 p.m. Tuesday at a home in the 2200 block of Parkwood Avenue.
Scherba said Watson used a mirror and a cellphone to capture images of a 14-year-old girl while she was in the bathroom. The girl discovered what was going on and told her mother, who reported the incident to police.
Watson lives in the home with the girl, but is not related to her, Scherba said.
Watson received a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and is being represented by the Washtenaw County Public Defender’s Office.
He is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary examination at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 22 in the 14A-1 District Court in Pittsfield Township.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
lollmaolulz
Sun, Aug 25, 2013 : 5:26 a.m.
I was there when they were arresting him.
anti-thug
Sun, Aug 18, 2013 : 7:36 a.m.
how sad ..all that trouble for peak ..what fool this man is.
KMHall
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 6:29 p.m.
Ha. I voted you "up" without seeing the word "this" in your comment. I thought you were being clever about mankind. I hope he learns from this and gets lots of guidance. 10 years on an offender list is rather a big deal but impulsivity and lack of caution can lead a guy to much bigger trouble.
Yeaok
Sat, Aug 17, 2013 : 9:08 p.m.
If he is being charged as a adult, there should be some other charges in would imagine for filming a minor.
intellcity
Sat, Aug 17, 2013 : 5:10 p.m.
When you are young and immature you can have more hormones than brainpower. It is well known, and getting better known all the time, that brains continue to develop in different areas at different rates and not everyone matures on the same schedule. The different ages for driving, voting etc are an example of societies attempt to deal with this. In this instance, he probably thought he had come up with a creative idea and did not think through the consequences of the activity and probably thought he was being so creative he did not think about getting caught and that looking at images is not the same thing as looking at the actual person and … ? This is the action on an immature mind. Kids need counseling in situations like this, not jail time, not a ten year sexual offender status. In the old days your dad would sit you down and have a talk or maybe take you out to the woodshed for an appropriate discussion. Now we call the cops. Now we have collective moral outrage. Think back to your youth. Think of all the things you did as a kid and didn't get caught: soaping windows on Halloween, throwing snowballs from behind bushes, sneaking a cookie from the jar on top of the fridge, this is not my list (mine is much longer) but we all have one. Anything as bad as sneaking a photo – no, no cell phones back then. We all did dumb things and we all grew up -- most of us at least. Reading the comments posted to ANNARBOR.com articles shows that maturity comes to us at different ages. Hopefully there will be age appropriate intervention in this case.
matt1027
Sun, Aug 18, 2013 : 7:56 p.m.
let me add that if this young girl was my kin, he'd be begging to stay in prison...he would make it long after he got out in the open.
matt1027
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 9:35 p.m.
Sadly I'm not surprised by the people saying let's give this guy help. What a world we live in. This the step that comes before raping someone. He is clearly degenerate trash and doesn't belong out in our society. I would be my house that he will do something worse when he get's back out in society with the decent people.
PineyWoodsGuy
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 5:02 p.m.
1. What does a cell phone for a teenager cost per month? 2. Is this a crime that puts you on the Sex Offender List?
halflight
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 6:16 p.m.
As to question 2, yes, according to the Sex Offenders Registration Act, an individual convicted of surveilling an unclothed person is a "tier one offender" when the victim is a minor, and a tier one offender remains on the registry for a period of at least ten years.
Doug
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 2:59 p.m.
This kid is sick and needs help! Help is need here, not punishment!
KMHall
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 6:24 p.m.
Doug I agree. I would hope that he gets lots of help and monitoring. He could come to appreciate that someone intervened before he got into much worse trouble. He was being very creepy and he probably thought he was pulling a clever prank.
John
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 3:47 p.m.
Or punishment followed by help, that would probably be optimal.
AnnArborMom1
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 2:32 p.m.
Sad situation.
SlothluvsChunk
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 11:01 a.m.
The artical says he resided in the same home as the girl, and where the crime took place. Since It says he was release on bound, was he allowed to return to the same residence? I would hope not!
mady
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 8:05 p.m.
Absolutely!!!
a2citizen
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 4:12 a.m.
Photo ?
matt1027
Sun, Aug 18, 2013 : 7:50 p.m.
you really need one? Two guesses and you'll need one.
Ricebrnr
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 4:12 p.m.
where's the photo of him as a 12 year old?
Kyle Feldscher
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 12:19 p.m.
a2citizen - The WCSO computer system was down when I asked Sgt. Geoffrey Fox for the mugshot yesterday.
brian
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 2:23 a.m.
Sick and creepy. Parents need to do a better job raising kids these days.
jcj
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 12:33 a.m.
I trust he does not live in the home anymore!
WalkingJoe
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 11:36 p.m.
Adult or not this is something that is way wrong.
Ricebrnr
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 10:30 p.m.
Weird...from all the news reports i see 17 yo ne'er do wells are usually identified as children...
Tom Todd
Sat, Aug 17, 2013 : 12:25 p.m.
Concrete is a weapon
dsponini
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 12:57 p.m.
It depends on the color of his skin.
Jack Gladney
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 1:57 a.m.
It depends on whether or not the ne'er do well has Skittles in his possession.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 8:53 p.m.
I'll answer Paul's comment here so it can be more visible. In Michigan, a person 17 years of age or older is considered an adult when it comes to being charged with a crime. Here's the definition from michiganprosecutor.org and there's a link included in that page that will go to the statute http://www.michiganprosecutor.org/Define.htm
halflight
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 4:36 p.m.
chapmaja: It's a legal fiction that every person becomes mature and fully responsible for their actions at a certain age. For a variety of reasons, the law assigns different ages of maturity for different activities, but we all know there are some kids who are wise beyond their years, and some adults that never grow up. According to current scientific knowledge, the human brain typically doesn't reach full maturity until the mid 20s. Here's a link to MIT on the subject. http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/youngadult/brain.html
Ann English
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 12:34 a.m.
Chapmaja, We have a constitutional amendment allowing 18-year-olds to vote. Do you want another constitutional amendment for defining who an adult is? It would be much easier to pass a state law.
chapmaja
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 9:05 p.m.
Why is it that if you commit a crime at 17 you are an adult, but if you want to vote on a change in the law you can't do that until you are 18. Personally I think there should be 1 age and 1 age only for when you are an adult. Currently you can have sex and get a drivers licence when you are 16, be charged as an adult when you are 17, legally smoke when you are 18, and drink when you are 21.
John Counts
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 8:51 p.m.
In the eyes of the law, you are charged as an adult when 17 in Michigan. We do not name those charged as juveniles in juvenile court.
Paul Taylor
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 8:27 p.m.
If he is 17, then he is a minor, and the headline is, again, misleading. What is the site policy for naming accused minors?
mady
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 8:04 p.m.
Minor, schminor, he's old enough to know what he was doing. NASTY!
halflight
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 4:21 p.m.
"You are no longer a minor in the eyes of the law if you are 17." You are no longer a minor in the eyes of Michigan's CRIMINAL law. MCLA 712A.2 http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(1rmcb155wvit5fztrlsodi55))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-712a-2 For most civil purposes, Michigan law defines a minor as a person under 18 years of age. MCLA 722.52 http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(gs32bwaelspl5v45hrhwheeq))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-722-52
Doug
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 2:56 p.m.
Know what you're talking about before you post.
SlothluvsChunk
Fri, Aug 16, 2013 : 11 a.m.
You are no longer a minor in the eyes of the law if you are 17.
The Infinite Jester
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 8:14 p.m.
Creepy. Is this the same thing that Dr Weinblatt was charged with?
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Aug 15, 2013 : 8:22 p.m.
Yes, it was Jester.