Does he deserve his license?

[Guest guest]

It is so easy to find local and state inspectors that are either unqualified

to be inspectors or that should have their licenses revoked. All one needs

to do is LOOK.

Ken Moulton

Man investigated in videotaping case employed by towns

By ERICH LUENING

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

WEST TISBURY - The electrician who police say is under investigation for

secretly videotaping the bathroom of an apartment he owns is still a wire

inspector for the towns of Aquinnah and Chilmark, according to town officials.

Although Lehman, 50, admitted in a written statement to police that

he secretly installed a hidden camera in the bathroom to watch his female

tenant take showers, town officials said there has been no decision to stop

using him as an inspector.

Lehman is the wiring inspector for Aquinnah and the assistant inspector for

Chilmark.

The longtime local contractor has not been charged as a result of the

ongoing investigation. State and Tisbury police are currently analyzingcomputer

equipment, digital cameras and videotapes seized from his house on June 27

after

a female tenant found a hidden camera in the heating vent of her bathroom

and called police.

Investigators are expected to take weeks to determine whether Lehman broke

any laws by secretly videotaping the tenant as she used her bathroom.

It's also unclear under what statutes Lehman might be prosecuted. There is

no state law against videotaping people without their knowledge, although

there is legislation to outlaw secret videotaping, now before the state Senate

Criminal Justice Committee. The committee could forward it to the full Senate

for a vote as early as next week, according to , an adviser for

State Sen. Creem, D-Newton, who sits on the committee.

Wiring inspector's duties

Tim Carroll, the executive secretary of Chilmark, said selectmen have not

made a decision to stop using Lehman as that town's assistant wiring inspector

and no one has raised any concern with town officials.

" If there is a concern out there about [Lehman] being an inspector, they

should come forward, " said Carroll. " All of his work is supervised by either

the

wiring inspector or the building inspector. They are the first line of

oversight. "

However, Lee Welch, the wiring inspector for Chilmark, said he isn't in

charge of Lehman. " He does inspections that I can't get to and I do inspections

he can't get to. "

Welch explained that wiring inspectors look at any new wiring work done in

the town. " Anything that requires a new permit we inspect. We inspect new

homes, and other new installations. "

Welch said the board of selectmen is in charge of hiring and firing Chilmark

employees.

But Carroll was quick to explain that in Chilmark the primary job of a

wiring inspector is to do outside work on new houses. " It's not as though he

would

be wandering around people's private domains, " he said.

In Aquinnah, where Lehman is the primary wiring inspector, Town Clerk

Jeananne Jeffers said " as far as I know he is still the wiring inspector for

the

town... I won't comment on anything else. "

Calls to building inspectors and selectmen for Aquinnah and Chilmark were

not returned before deadline.

The Board of State Examiners of Electricians, the body responsible for

licensing electricians in the state, confirmed that Lehman had recently renewed

his state master's and journeyman licenses for electrician contracting.

" Now that allegations have been made, the board will monitor the case until

there is a conviction, " said Goetcheus, a spokesman for the

Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure, the state overseer of

professional

licensing. " Once a conviction is made, the board will open a case to consider

his licensing status. "

Former tenants concerned

A group of 14 women who used to be tenants of Lehman has consulted with

Vineyard Haven attorney Geoghan Coogan and Brockton attorney Mone to

prepare a potential civil action.

Mone also represents the woman who found the hidden camera in her bathroom

in June.

In a written statement for Tisbury Police, Lehman told investigators he

installed a camera in the apartment on June 26 to watch the female tenant take

showers. The woman lived in the apartment at 460 lin St. in Tisbury with

her two children, ages 10 and 12.

On the evening of June 27, the woman told police she found the camera in the

floor heater of her bathroom.

The woman told police she pulled the camera out of the heater and discovered

it was wired to the floor. Minutes after she pulled the camera from the

heater, she heard a knock at the door. She told police that Lehman was at the

door, and asked if he could inspect the furnace. She refused to let him in the

apartment and called police.

The woman told police she originally found the camera angled toward the

toilet and shower.

Later that evening, police said, Lehman told them initially that he had no

idea what the camera was doing there. After police advised him of his rights,

Lehman changed his story and said he had installed the camera 10 years ago to

secretly watch another tenant shower. He would watch the video feed on a

television inside his garage with friends.

But in his written statement, Lehman changed the timeline again, saying he

had installed the camera just recently to watch the current tenant take

showers.

Mone said that because Lehman initially said he had installed the camera 10

years ago, he set up a substantial timeline. " That is going back a long

time. "

Despite repeated calls, Lehman could not be reached for comment.

(Published: July 16, 2004)