ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DOVER, N.H.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A 71-YEAR-OLD PHOTOGRAPHER may have spent years secretly videotaping girls and women in a dressing room.
A photographer who took bridal portraits and portfolios for aspiring models is accused of secretly videotaping his subjects in a basement dressing room where a sign warned:
``Attention Models!!! Please! No undergarments. Why? Because pantyhose, panties and bras cause unsightly lines and bulges which are unacceptable for glamorous or model shows.''
By Tuesday, about 20 women contacted police with fears they might have been victims of 71-year-old Lawrence Ring, who is accused of making the tapes for two decades and distributing some of the pictures over the Internet.
``They realize now they may have been taped,'' said Sgt. Anthony Colarusso. ``They're very upset because they don't feel they did anything wrong - and they didn't.''
Police accused the photographer of going much further than voyeurism with some of his subjects - including having sex on camera with a 15-year-old girl whose call to police last week led to Ring's arrest.
Police Chief William Fenniman said Ring paid women $15 an hour for modeling, $30 an hour for body painting and $150 an hour for acting in pornographic movies.
After searching Ring's house for about 12 hours Saturday, police charged him with sexual assault and said more charges are expected.
Some 400 hours of videotape and thousands of photo negatives were seized, some going back so far that officers recognized some of their own high school classmates. One woman called from Italy about pictures taken years ago.
Police sought to allay the women's fears that nude photos of them might become public. ``We can assure victims we have very tight security,'' Colarusso said. ``Our main concern is the victims.''
Neighbors in this blue-collar community of about 26,000 were aghast.
``We're not surprised, we're shocked,'' said James Macris. ``I can see something like this happening in Boston. But things like this don't happen in Dover.''
Colarusso said police briefly investigated Ring in 1994 when a parent complained he had solicited two 12-year-old girls to pose for photos. Police concluded the photos were not indecent and no laws had been broken.
Ring complained of chest pains and collapsed while police searched his home. He was hospitalized and released. He remained free on $10,000 bail.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB