LONGVIEW — Brett Lee Mccord was found guilty Wednesday on two counts of voyeurism for allegedly and secretly filming Cowlitz County Public Utility District employees with a GoPro camera in 2022 when he was employed as a janitor.
Mccord was contracted with a third-party to clean a Cowlitz PUD building off Industrial Way, a police report states. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 13.
Cowlitz County Deputy Prosecutor Nicole Grayse Knowles outlined Tuesday the charges Mccord, 35, was facing in her opening statement, saying Mccord recorded two Cowlitz PUD female workers without their consent.
“You will hear testimony … that he placed (the GoPro) underneath (a victim’s) desk, took it home over the weekend and brought it back,” and placed the camera underneath the second victim’s desk, she said.
Knowles said a “little robot” connected to an app would press a button on the GoPro to start recording remotely.
The state’s first witness was Travis Walling, a Cowlitz PUD operation specialist, who said he’s been with the agency for the past 18 years.
Walling said on the stand he and one of the victims would play office pranks on each other, and on May 26, 2022, one of the victim’s thought Walling was performing another one of his pranks.
“She said she heard something, (and was) unsure what it was and asked me to look,” said Walling. He told Knowles he found a GoPro camera underneath one of the victim’s L-shape work desks with tape around it.
Walling said he noticed the camera was recording and told his coworker not to speak. He told Knowles he removed the batteries and SIM card from the GoPro but didn’t call the police immediately.
He testified he did some sleuthing of his own. He went to Walmart to buy an SD card reader and used his personal computer to view the camera’s contents.
According to Walling, the footage showed a “fish-eye lens look” of “legs and jeans,” showing the women from the “hips down,” he said.
Walling said besides the video footage of the victims, there were audio files, footage of a vehicle at a car wash, and a view of the suspect’s license plate. He said he cross-referenced the footage on the GoPro with the Cowlitz PUD security camera, deducing that it was Mccord’s vehicle and license plate on the GoPro. Only after that did he say he called the authorities.
During cross-examination, Mccord’s attorney Dan Morgan asked Walling about the pranks he committed in the office.
Walling said he “put a sound-making device” in one of the victim’s desks, wrapped a desk in wrapping paper, and baked a stapler in a blob of Jell-O. Walling said that none of his pranks consisted of a hidden camera.
According to the probable cause statement, Mccord told police he had a “crush” on the two victims because he stated they were “nice to him.” In the same interview, Mccord remarked he had “sexual desires” toward the victims and wanted to see them in their jeans.
Morgan elected not to give an opening statement.
Mccord pleaded guilty in 2017 to indecent liberties, first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and voyeurism, according to court records.
