‘Upskirt photo’ fan gets 2040 months in state prison
Ex-’Nova student took 51,000 photos and videos at his college, Cardinal O’Hara and a CVS store
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A former Villanova University student convicted in December on three counts of child pornography, five counts of invasion of privacy and two counts of criminal use of a communication facility was sentenced Friday to 20-60 months in a state prison.
Vincent Kane, 19, of the 100 block of Sterner Avenue in the Broomall section of Marple, was also ordered to register as a sexual offender for 15 years and have no unsupervised contact with children under the sentence imposed by Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge James Bradley.
Bradley said his sentence was based in part on the fact that there were 12 separate victims, three under the age of 18 and one a 13-year-old girl.
Kane was initially charged with additional counts of child pornography and related offenses, but Assistant District Attorney Christopher Boggs agreed to withdrew some charges and reduce Kane’s exposure at sentencing in exchange for entering into a stipulated non-jury trial in November.
Boggs said in December that Kane had rejected a negotiated guilty plea deal of one count of child pornography, accompanied by five counts of invasion of privacy, with two to four years in state prison.
Defense attorney Michael Harris Fienman said at that time that his client rejected the deal in large part to preserve his appellate rights.
Kane surrendered to authorities Oct. 26, 2016, following a joint investigation by the Delaware County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Villanova University Police Department.
“For his own sexual gratification, Vincent Kane surreptitiously recorded countless victims, including his fellow students, violating and breaching their personal security, which can never be restored,” thenDistrict Attorney Jack Whelan said in a statement announcing Kane’s arrest.
Kane took the shots at the Main Line campus of Villanova where he was a part-time student, at a CVS on West Chester Pike in Broomall where he worked, and at Cardinal O’Hara High School, where he was listed as a member of the Class of 2015, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Authorities were alerted to Kane’s activities Sept. 22, 2016, when a female Villanova student reported finding a concealed cellphone in a unisex bathroom on the third floor of Tolentine Hall. The student found the video recorder on the phone was active and reported it to the University Department of Safety.
Delaware County Detective Ed Pisani examined the phone with Villanova Police Chief David Tedjeske and found various user accounts for Kane, as well as several videos and images of people being surreptitiously recorded, including an “upskirt” video taken at the CVS on Sept. 18, 2016.
Pisani and Tedjeske made contact with Kane and he allegedly admitted to hiding the camera in the bathroom where it was recovered. Kane said he had been making similar videos for about two years, according to the affidavit.
Kane gave the investigators consent to search his school-issued laptop and personal desktop computer. Both were later seized along with an external Seagate hard drive.
Pisani performed a forensic examination of the devices and found more than 51,000 total images and videos taken from Villanova, the CVS and Cardinal O’Hara High School. Nine videos were of the Villanova bathroom and included multiple victims. Four other videos were taken from inside an unknown bathroom and another 12 videos depicted “upskirt” images at the CVS.
More than 300 images involved a single 13-year-old female in 2015, in which Kane allegedly attempted to capture additional “upskirt” images. There were also seven videos and 12 images of apparent child pornography depicting infants and others under the age of 12, the affidavit said.
Bradley heard from Kane’s grandmother and father Friday, as well as a family friend and psychologist Dr. Susan Campling.
Elizabeth Kane said she blamed the Internet for her grandson’s circumstances, drawing him in at an impressionable age to images he should not have been exposed to. She said he lived with her after his arrest and displayed a sincere effort to take responsibility and improve himself.
Steven Kane said he blamed himself for failing to give his son the attention he required, noting Kane had been diagnosed with psychological issues and a learning disability as a young teen.
“The doctor instructed me to seek further treatment for Vincent eight years ago, but we did not follow up,” he said. “I overlooked, in many ways, and neglected Vincent over the years because he was such a great kid.”
Instead, Kane’s father said he focused on a younger child, often to the exclusion of Kane, who never complained. When Kane was ostracized and bullied at school, his father said he found another community online without social rejection.
It was in that setting that Campling said Kane discovered voyeurism-themed pornography around age 13, which he used to moderate the organization of his world. Though not specifically diagnosed, Campling said Kane does seem to exhibit some Asperger’s-like traits in his social and communications skills.
“He was able to function in some ways, however it became out of control,” said Campling, who has spent about 80 hours in group and individual therapy with Kane since December 2016. “He spoke of how he wanted to stop, but was unable to stop and it became a voyeuristic compulsion.”
Had he received the recommended treatment at a younger age, Campling said Kane, who is diagnosed with voyeurism, likely would not have been in court Friday.
But Campling said Kane is at a low to moderate risk for reoffending and has not engaged in other types of crime. He is receptive and dedicated to treatment, and has shown no evidence for pedophilia despite the presence of child pornography on his devices, she said.
“He has a good outlook,” said Campling. “He has a good future ahead of him if we give him appropriate treatment and change some of the deficiencies that he has, and treat them.”
Kane also addressed the court, apologizing to his family and numerous victims for his offenses.
“Their sense of security, their sense of privacy, their confidence, their independence and trust and respect in men must all be in shambles,” he said.
Kane pledged to continue treatment and channel stress relief through physical labor, exercise and hobbies. He said therapy and self-reflection has brought him to a place where he is beginning to feel the effects of healing himself, and he has learned tactics to avoid temptation in the future.
“I know now that social anxiety, low confidence, signs of depression, an awful sleep schedule, developmental changes in my hormones as a teenager and shame are all at the root of my past decision-making and poor behavioristic choices that began to form well before turning 18,” he said. “The me who is before you today is well on the way down a healthy, normal and valuable path of
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