WILDWOOD — A man, who was convicted of sex offenses related to the video taping of a young girl at a local waterpark, lost a recent appeal and remains subject to registration under Megan’s Law.
Marcus B. McMullen, 46, a former federal corrections officer from Millville, was charged in the summer of 2005 with child endangerment and lewdness following an incident that occurred at the Raging Waters on Morey’s Pier at the Boardwalk near Schellenger Avenue.
According to court documents, while seated at a picnic table McMullen videotaped a 10-year-old girl as she played in the park. According to the girl’s testimony, McMullen then exposed himself to her. After the girl told her mother that McMullen had flashed her, the mother contacted her husband, a seasonal Wildwood policeman, who arrested McMullen and confiscated his camera and a fanny pack that contained a Levitra pill for impotency.
At trial in front of Superior Court Judge Carmen Alvarez, the jury viewed McMullen’s videotape, which was “focusing on her (the girl’s) buttocks and pubic area, as well as footage of those areas of other young girls.”
When asked why he shot the film, McMullen said he was videotaping the fun of the boardwalk to convince his girlfriend and her kids to visit Wildwood with him. He also said he filmed the young girl because she reminded him of his own daughter.
The jury didn’t believe his story.
McMullen was convicted and sentenced to three years in state prison. He served time from Feb. 22, 2007 to April 7, 2008 and was paroled from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown, Burlington County.
On appeal, McMullen challenged the introduction of the videotape, which he said had nothing to do with the crimes he was accused of. It is not illegal to take pictures so the video is irrelevant, he argued.
The appellate judges, however, agreed with Alvarez, who said, “It’s highly relevant, highly probative, and part of the entire incident. The film is a natural segue into the act of exposing himself.”
The tape, the court said, added credence to the State’s claim that McMullen, having stalked the girl throughout the day, was seeking sexual gratification when the exposure took place, and that the exposure was not inadvertent. Since the video contained no shots of Wildwood itself or its amenities, but only close ups of young girls, the court reasoned that it was not meant to convince loved ones to visit or because the victim reminded him of his daughter.
The appeals court found that the videotape “illuminated the context in which defendant’s criminal conduct occurred, thereby assisting in the jury’s understanding of the events as they unfolded.”
McMullen also appealed several more of the judge’s decisions, such as: not to declare a mistrial when the jury said it was deadlocked twice; not allowing his expert witness to testify; showing bias and prejudice towards him; and imposing a prison sentence.
In the end, McMullen’s appeal was dismissed on all points.
As of Aug. 17, McMullen is a registered sex offender out on parole. According to the state’s registry, McMullen is a Tier 2-Moderate offender with an address in Wildwood and another in Suitland, Md.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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