What to Know
A convicted sex offender has been arrested after trying to discretely film children at a pool in Boston. On August 14, families were trying to enjoy a day at the Boston Common Frog Pond when multiple people noticed that a man appeared to be using camera-equipped sunglasses to record videos of children changing their clothes and spending time at the pool. The man was later identified as Mark Sullivan, who is registered under the Sex Offender Registry.
Although it seems that Sullivan was trying to be more secretive by using sunglasses that had a camera installed, police noted that people at the park also noticed him using his cell phone and potentially using it to record videos of children as well.
People shared some disturbing details about what they observed.
Based on a report from the Boston Police Department, it sounds like Sullivan used his sunglasses and his phone to film multiple children at the pool that day. Some witnesses recounted specific details, alleging that they saw Sullivan filming a family as they changed their children’s clothes.
The family was trying to cover their children with a towel when they changed their clothes, but they reportedly noticed the man acting strange. Because Sullivan made them uncomfortable, they tried to move to a different area and change there instead. However, Sullivan allegedly followed them. Even after they moved, he appeared to be doing the exact same thing and using his sunglasses to get footage of the children.
Some people decided to confront Sullivan over his behavior.
Per the police, witnesses described confronting him after noticing what he was doing and how he was using his sunglasses. After this happened, Sullivan reportedly tried to break the sunglasses using his own hands.
Later, police noticed that the sunglasses were broken, but Sullivan offered a different explanation for this: he claimed that a group had confronted him and assaulted him, forcibly removing his sunglasses.
Sullivan was arrested on August 18.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of photographing sexual or intimate parts of a child. Sullivan has faced consequences for similar crimes in the past. He has 10 convictions related to child sex offenses, according to state records. Per CBS News, he was previously sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
His bail has been set at $250,000. According to CBS, there were a couple of attempts made to lower his bail, but the judge rejected these requests, saying, “His record is bad. It’s bad.”
While the prosecutor was aiming for $100,000 bail, Sullivan tried to get it brought down to $1,000.
Sullivan’s defense lawyer, Denise Moore, has tried to say that the person who reported Sullivan to the police did not actually observe what had happened at the pool that day.
“The person who waved down the police was the 911 caller,” Moore claimed, per WCVB. “But he did not observe anything with respect to the alleged activities.” Moore also noted that Sullivan hasn’t been part of the workforce since 2007, and he is currently seeing a therapist.
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