Man faces trial in secret video case

BANGOR – A Caribou man is expected to go on trial this spring for violation of privacy after the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reversed Friday a lower court’s decision to suppress evidence seized at the home of William Wilcox.

Wilcox, 46, is accused of secretly videotaping a 21-year-old woman who was his daughter’s friend and staying temporarily at his Salmon Street home.

The young woman went to Caribou police in October 2002 with a video that reportedly had captured her in the nude and dressing in Wilcox’s residence. She told officers that she had discovered the tape after Wilcox left for work and left his television on.

When she got close to the table in Wilcox’s bedroom, where she applied makeup, her image came on the TV screen. Believing she was being videotaped, she changed in another room, according to court documents.

After she changed, she returned to Wilcox’s bedroom, located a hidden video camera, and removed the tape.

Wilcox’s attorney Alan Harding of Presque Isle filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized at the man’s home, pointing out that although the warrant contained his address, the affidavit did not.

Aroostook County Superior Court Justice Allen Hunter granted the motion, which was appealed by the Aroostook County District Attorney’s Office. Justices in the state’s high court unanimously ruled that the warrant should not have been suppressed.

“Because Caribou is a relatively small Maine town, in spite of the omission of the street address, the affidavit provided ample probable cause to believe that the evidence sought would be located in the place that was searched,” wrote Justice Howard Dana Jr. for the court.