Victim faces voyeur: ‘You are being stopped’

BENTONVILLE — A woman who spent her career assisting sexual-assault victims faced the man Thursday who used a cellphone to record underneath her dress.

Police arrested Destin Lewis in 2016 for using his cellphone to take a video recording of the retired sexual-assault nurse examiner. The woman encountered Lewis at the Neighborhood Market on Walton Boulevard.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren sentenced Lewis, 31, of Rogers to 12 years in prison. Lewis had pleaded guilty in March 2015 to breaking or entering and theft of property, both felonies, and was placed on three years’ state-supervised probation.

Prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Lewis’ probation, which meant he faced up to six years in prison on each of the felonies. He admitted in court in February to violating his probation.

He was charged with two counts of misdemeanor video voyeurism.

“I performed forensic exams and often collected rape kits on little kids and adults who became prey of sexual offenders like you,” the woman told Lewis.

The woman spoke at Lewis’ sentencing hearing. She recalled the many times she’s listened to a rape victim and heard the words — “at first it was just looking.”

“I think you should thank your lucky stars that you picked me that day and that we are here now because you are being stopped … stopped from assaulting and humiliating someone else and stopped before your behavior escalated into something worse,” she said.

Lewis was a Pepsi vendor, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

The woman said in court that she felt Lewis put his hands under her dress and touch her, and she questioned whether it was accidental.

“I actually talked myself out of saying anything,” she said. “I actually worried I was going to get you in trouble.”

Bentonville police obtained a search warrant and found the video of the woman and a second woman at the store. Lewis admitted recording the videos but claimed those were the only ones, according to the affidavit.

The woman told Lewis she was glad for the support she needed to stand firm in what she knew happened.

“I have read statistically the odds are not in your favor to reform,” she said about Lewis. “I pray the court finds it in the best interest of our community to give you a long, long time in prison to work on that.”