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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Maitland man caught secretly filming session with sex worker

Newcastle courthouse. File picture

A 21-year-old man will be sentenced next month for secretly filming an encounter with a sex worker he hired.

Archer Lee Russell - an apprentice carpenter from Aberglasslyn - visited a Newcastle establishment on the night of May 4 and paid for a standard 30-minute session with one of the workers.

According to a statement of police facts tendered to Newcastle Local Court, Russell turned on his mobile phone video camera and propped it on a chair, facing the bed, before the woman entered the room.

He did not tell her he was filming, nor did he ask her permission to do so.

The woman noticed the phone recording on the chair about 14 minutes into the session and soon took her chance to grab the device.

She left the room and air-dropped the video to her phone out of fear the evidence could be deleted and the manager called police.

The woman had never given consent to be filmed performing the private act.

When Russell learned police were on their way, he offered more money to the woman.

He handed his phone to police when they arrived at the scene and told them: "I just made a stupid mistake. I shouldn't of [sic] done it".

Russell has pleaded guilty to one count of filming a person in a private act without consent to obtain sexual arousal.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

Russell, who remains on bail, faced Newcastle Local Court on Thursday where a Sentencing Assessment Report was ordered ahead of his sentencing on August 29.

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