Charges of contravening privacy are pending against a wedding studio photographer, who allegedly took secret naked photographs of female clients and coworkers during a trip to Penghu County, New Taipei City police said yesterday.
Twelve women might have been victimized by the photographer surnamed Ko (柯), 35, who allegedly installed a GoPro camera in shower stalls at the hotel where they stayed from July 16 to July 19.
WH Wedding House in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) assigned Ko as the sole photographer for the commercial venture, to which it invited nine female bloggers for a series of outdoor shoots at beaches and harbors in Penghu.
The trip was free for the bloggers and funded by the Penghu County Government to promote its “Marine Island Wedding Photo Shoot in Penghu” campaign.
Penghu public prosecutors said that the GoPro camera had taken naked photographs of all nine bloggers, as well as three of the studio’s employees — two makeup artists and a wedding service secretary.
Media yesterday reported that Ko had in 2014 been caught secretly taking naked photographs of two female employees at the studio.
The studio proprietor, a man surnamed Chou (周), yesterday confirmed that Ko had at the time installed a miniature camera in the studio’s women’s washroom, but added that the victims agreed to settle out of court for compensation of NT$200,000.
“As Ko had to pay compensation, we agreed to continue work with him on contract jobs and special assignments so that he could earn money for the compensation as we were concerned that he would not be able to pay the victims,” Chou was quoted as saying.
However, Chou told reporters that Ko was fired after the Penghu case emerged.
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