Dance company worker accused of filming underage girls in dressing room
A dance company worker is accused of recording underage girls in a dressing room and having more than 1,000 child pornography images, Orange County authorities said Tuesday.
Paul Michael Barbour, 33, of Long Beach, was arrested June 1 after investigators found the pornographic images and videos on his home computer, said prosecutor Bobby Taghavi of the Orange County district attorney’s office.
The pornography appeared to be unrelated to Barbour’s job, Taghavi said. Barbour faces multiple charges, including making the recording and possessing child pornography and drugs for sale.
Authorities began investigating Barbour after he reportedly placed a hidden video camera inside a dressing room at Cypress College before a dance competition there.
Barbour was an emcee at the competition, but he was also known as an assistant director of a dance production company in Cypress.
Authorities said the camera recorded girls, who were between 12 and 15 years old, as they prepared for the competition. A dance competitor’s mother found the camera and reported the incident to Cypress police.
During a search of his home, police did not find any pornographic images and videos of the girls, Taghavi said. Barbour appeared to have illegally downloaded the child pornography from the Internet, he added.
But investigators did discover 22 pounds of hallucinogenic drugs inside his home, authorities said. If convicted, Barbour faces a maximum sentence of seven years and six month in jail, prosecutors said.
Anyone who may have been victimized or who has information about Barbour is asked to call the Cypress Police Department at (714) 229-6631 or Investigator Paul Carvo at (714) 347-8794.
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