Doyce Dean Griffis has been sentenced to 17 and half years in prison for setting up a tanning salon in his barn and secretly recording his customers as they undressed. At least 20 of his victims were underage girls.
The 49-year-old Starke, Florida, man first set up the makeshift tanning salon in a barn on his property in February 2000. According to The Gainesville Sun, customers of the small-town salon would put money in a slot in order to use the machine.
Griffis, though, equipped the room with a two way mirror and punched a hole in a vent near the bottom of the tanning machine. Through the mirror and the vent he would secretly record the women in the nude as they undressed and tanned.
"Griffis produced, collected, and maintained the sexually explicit video recordings ... for his own sexual gratification, and kept detailed notes on the types of physical and sexual characteristics of his customers," reads a government news release.
Investigators also found more than 100 videos and dozens of images of child pornography on his computer that he had downloaded from the Internet.
Let's not victim blame here, but here are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you or your children do not get secretly video recorded while using a tanning salon.
1. Remember, tanning can lead to skin cancer and premature aging.
2. Also remember that Florida, weather permitting, has plenty of natural sun and temperatures perfect for outdoor tanning.
3. If you must use a tanning salon, make sure it is a reputable business.
4. Do not use a tanning salon in a barn owned by an unkempt guy with a crazy mustache in which you pay by putting money into a slot under any circumstances. Just do not do it. It is not worth it. Being pale is not that bad.
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