SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A 52-year-old man who was convicted of video recording women using the bathroom at a Kearny Mesa Walmart was sentenced Thursday to 150 days in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Richard Lawrence Shaw was also placed on formal supervised probation for three years. Shaw's victims include one child and eight women, the city attorney's said in a release Friday.
“This predator invaded the privacy of women and children in a space where they felt protected and safe. Even worse, he captured his victims on video for his own enjoyment and dissemination,” stated City Attorney Mara W. Elliott.
“We will not tolerate these abuses in our community. Our Office will prosecute sex crimes and similar abuses to the fullest extent of the law.”
On January 30, 2018, a female customer at the Walmart store at 4840 Shawline Street in Kearny Mesa noticed a cell phone under the wall of her stall in the women’s bathroom.
The woman alerted store security who discovered Shaw in the adjoining bathroom stall. Responding San Diego Police Department officers searched Shaw’s phone and found videos of at least eight women and one young girl using the Walmart restroom, the city attorney said.
On May 8, 2018, Shaw pled guilty to nine misdemeanor charges of secretly filming a person, one for each victim.
"Terms of his probation included attending 52 weeks of sex offender counseling; an order requiring him to wear a GPS monitor and to not contact children; an order to stay away from the Kearny Mesa Walmart and all identified victims; a waiver of his Fourth Amendment rights, which will allow police officers to search his person, property, and electronic devices without a warrant; fines; victim restitution in an amount to be determined; and an order not to possess a camera, pornography, or a computer without his probation officer’s approval," said the city attorney's office.
Each of the nine misdemeanor charges that Shaw pled guilty to carries a maximum sentence of six months, the city attorney's office said. If Shaw violates the terms of his probation, he could face additional custody of more than four years in jail. Shaw recently moved to California, but has an extensive history of sex crimes in his home state of Maine.
