Deputies were dispatched to Oklahoma Free Will Baptist Encounter Camp after learning Bartles was ‘taking pictures and videos of minors in the bathroom’, according to a news release. — Photo by Buchen WANG on Unsplash
A 19-year-old attending a church camp was arrested after Oklahoma authorities say he secretly recorded kids in the bathroom.
The Latimer County Sheriff’s Office said Luke Bartels faces charges of child porn possession and manufacturing child porn.
Deputies were dispatched to Oklahoma Free Will Baptist Encounter Camp after learning Bartles was “taking pictures and videos of minors in the bathroom,” according to a news release.
The camp, which stressed Bartels “just graduated high school and was registered as a camper,” said the recordings were made in the boys dormitory.
Bartels, of Lexington, Oklahoma, confessed to making the recordings and deputies searched his phone, according to the sheriff.
“As a result, many other horrible things were found on his phone,” according to the camp. “These other items have nothing to do with (Kiamichi Baptist Assembly).”
According to its website, Encounter Camp is held at the Kiamichi Baptist Assembly campground in Talihina. The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Church.
The camp said its board, security, staff members and deputies “acted swiftly and appropriately” during the situation.
“There’s a silver lining,” the camp said. “Thank goodness he was apprehended under these circumstances, where all parties took swift action, before his actions could escalate any further.”
Bartles is being held in the Latimer County Jail on a US$100,000 bond, authorities said.
Talihina is about 150 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
