Bonaire man sentenced to 25 years for filming nude minors through windows

A Bonaire man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for using an iPhone to film undressed girls through bedroom and bathroom windows of their homes.

Robert Norman Barlow, 31, previously pleaded guilty to 18 counts of invasion of privacy in connection with filming six girls, who were between the ages of 12 and 15, between September 2011 and January 2013. A seventh victim was not a minor.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Anthony said Houston County sheriff’s investigators found no evidence indicating that Barlow uploaded or shared the videos or the still photographs he made from the videos. Barlow kept the videos and images on his computer, Anthony said.

Barlow also pleaded guilty in January to three counts of sexual exploitation of children based on photographs of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct that were found on his computer that he downloaded off the Internet.

All 18 counts of Peeping Tom charges and the remaining 11 counts of sexual exploitation were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Judge Katherine K. Lumsden also sentenced Barlow, whose arrest warrant says his victims were nude when they were filmed, to 15 years on probation with sex offender conditions.

Parents of the girls testified of the emotional harm Barlow inflicted on their families and asked the judge to impose the longest prison sentenced allowable.

One father noted that Barlow had to stand on an air conditioning unit to reach his daughter’s window that was 9 feet above the ground.

Learning that their 12-year-old daughter had been filmed taking a bath “made us physically sick to our stomachs and shook us to the core,” another parent wrote in a victim’s impact statement read aloud in court.

Barlow’s father, sister and a family friend sought leniency, noting that Barlow had children, had turned to God, could continue to receive counseling and lead a productive life.

Wearing a jail jumpsuit and handcuffed, Barlow said he was “deeply ashamed” and apologized to the victims and their families for his “senseless and immoral acts.”

“I’m not really asking for mercy, but for forgiveness for the things I have done ... from the people I have hurt,” Barlow said.

Arguing for a 25-year sentence, Anthony noted that for Barlow to be able to film the girls while they were undressed took “a great deal of reconnaissance.”

Anthony also noted, “When you see the videos, it looks worse than it sounds.”

He contended that Barlow’s actions merited “pretty severe consequences.”

Barlow’s attorney, Carl Veline of Warner Robins, said Barlow’s actions did not involve any physical contact and had ceased a 1 1/2 years before his arrest.

Telling the court that she found herself thinking about the windows in her own home as she listened to testimony, Lumsden said the case was not about a one-time incident of a 16-year-old high-school student filming a cheerleader but a man filming mostly very young girls.

In one instance, she said, Barlow filmed through a hole in one of the cords of window blinds. She said he was “not that lucky” to film the girls in the restroom or changing clothes without having stalked them.

Barlow nodded his head as the judge talked and imposed the sentence. His mother, seated two rows behind him in the courtroom, cried.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Bonaire man sentenced to 25 years for filming nude minors through windows."