Sports activities Photographer Sentenced to 14 Years in Jail Over Hidden Cameras

Knowledgeable photographer — who shot sports activities in addition to weddings — has been sentenced to 14 years in jail over a number of hidden digicam offenses.

48-year-old photographer Gordon Cordell pleaded responsible to 13 counts involving a number of victims from prices stemming from secret recordings of minors and adults. Cordell took movies or pictures of at the very least seven minors and 6 grownup girls.

Cordell was employed as a sports activities photographer in addition to a women’ softball coach for 2 years by the Wilmington School District in Wilmington, Ohio. According to courtroom papers cited in a report by Wilmington-based outlet News Journal, Cordell hid cameras disguised as a Bluetooth speaker and a charger block amongst different units in loos or dressing rooms earlier than victims entered. He then later returned to retrieve the hidden digicam units. The photographer additionally hid a digicam in a motel room that captured pictures and movies of two minors on the women’ softball workforce.

According to News Journal, courtroom papers additionally detailed how Cordell hid cameras whereas working as an expert wedding ceremony photographer. While working as a photographer at one wedding ceremony venue, he hid a digicam in a altering room and recorded video of two nude minors and audio of two grownup girls. At one other wedding ceremony venue, courtroom data state he used the identical methodology to file video of 4 grownup girls whereas they had been partially or totally undressed.

Judge Andrew McCoy sentenced Cordell to 14 years in jail on Friday. Those who had been photographed and recorded spoke on to the Clinton County courtroom concerning the influence Cordell’s actions had on them.

Judge McCoy describes Cordell’s conduct as “calculated and premeditated” and says sufferer influence statements demonstrated “extreme mental and psychological harm,” together with ongoing paranoia, anxiousness, and worry. The choose says the offenses involving minor victims represented “the worst form of the offense,” and that though Cordell had no prior legal historical past, his admitted conduct mirrored “a long-standing pattern of criminal behavior for which he simply was not caught.”

In an announcement following his arrest in August 2025, the Wilmington School District stated it “cut all ties with Mr. Cordell as a coach and athletic photographer.”

Last month, an Emmy-winning photojournalist was arrested for allegedly hiding cameras within the dressing room of the Oklahoma City tv station the place he labored as chief photographer. The incidents come as hidden cameras disguised as on a regular basis objects — corresponding to pens, buttons, or water bottles — which can be used to take intimate pictures of individuals with out their consent could also be made unlawful within the U.Ok.

Image credit: Header picture licensed by way of Depositphotos.