MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Richard Hightower, 53, was booked into Mobile Metro Jail Monday, Nov. 13, and is charged with voyeurism in the first degree.
According to Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood, this is the first time someone is charged with voyeurism in Mobile County.
Investigators arrested Hightower after conducting a search warrant on his home in Moss Point, Mississippi. He waived his extradition and was brought to Mobile to face his new charge.
According to Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood, Hightower’s voyeurism charge stems from an incident where he took an inappropriate picture of a 9-year-old girl at a Mobile County church while giving students piano lessons.
“A picture of a child’s skirt, something of that nature would be classified as voyeurism because when the victim is in a place where there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy and then photographs in this case of intimate areas of a skirt are taken, that is voyeurism,” Blackwood explained.
At a bench trial earlier this month, Hightower was found guilty of indecent exposure when he exposed his genitalia to students at the University of South Alabama in April of this year.
Hightower was sentenced to one year in jail, split to serve four months in jail, and one year in probation.
As far as his voyeurism charge, it is a Class C felony in Alabama according to Blackwood, but Hightower already has two prior felony convictions, he could face 10 to 99 years in prison.
The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office encourages those with any information on Hightower’s alleged crimes to give them a call to their chief investigator Don Gomien at 251-574-6681 or dgomien@mobileda.org.
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