D.C. police may not have stuck anyone with illegal fireworks charges this July 4th, but police did manage to nab one man taking advantage of the day’s patriotic displays: On Sunday afternoon, D.C. police detained 49-year-old Maryland resident Charles Defoe for engaging in voyeuristic activities on the grounds of the Washington Monument. According to an affidavit, “Defoe was surreptitiously videotaping the underskirts of numerous females” in the holiday crowd gathered on the Mall throughout the day. A parent of one of the victims reported Defoe, and a review of the tape in his video camera confirmed the activity. The affidavit reads that Defoe “admitted to intentionally video capturing images of private or undergarments-clad genital areas of numerous females on the National Mall, without their expressed and informed consent.”

Photo by Mike Hicks.