THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040238
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: COURTLAND
But with his video camera, he secretly made tapes of female customers undressing in his Franklin studio.
{REST} Branam, 48, was sentenced Friday to a year in jail for making sexually explicit videos of four girls as they changed clothes for their high school portraits.
He never discussed how he made the tapes, but police suspect Branam hid a camera behind boxes in a large back room that served as the changing area in his studio.
An employee found a videotape last July that reportedly showed clips of 20 women undressing, then gave the tape to police when she saw shots of herself changing clothes for a photography session a few years ago.
Branam was charged with five counts of making sexually explicit visual material of minors. Five of the women videotaped were teenagers.
He was acquitted of taping one of the teenagers; her pictures were not considered sexually explicit.
``What you've done is remove from them the innocence they deserve,'' Circuit Judge Westbrook J. Parker said.
The tape was described as ``amateurish'' by investigators. It had been edited to show some scenes repeatedly and pause on others, according to testimony.
``This case bothers me a great deal,'' Parker said when he sentenced Branam to 12 years in jail, then suspended all but one.
Branam's attorney, Inga Francis, called the case ``the kind that gives you the heebie-jeebies.''
The prosecutor, Southampton County Commonwealth's Attorney Richard C. Grizzard, called the videotape ``a terrible invasion of privacy.''
One of the teenagers videotaped called it ``disgusting.''
``It was sick,'' said the young woman, who asked that she not be identified. ``It just shocked me. I had no idea he was doing that.''
The woman and her parents said they were disappointed that Branam received only a year in prison.
His attorney asked for probation because Branam had no previous criminal record, served 20 years in the Navy and earned three good conduct medals. She filed a notice of appeal Friday afternoon.
by CNB