HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that Pennsylvania State Police have filed criminal charges against a former Cumberland County Commissioner, who is accused of using hidden surveillance throughout his home to videotape sexual encounters with young men.
Corbett identified the defendant as Bruce Barclay, 49, 253 Brindle Road, Mechanicsburg. Barclay served as Cumberland County Commissioner from January 2004 to April 2008.
According to the criminal complaint Barclay was accused of raping a 20 year-old male on March 31, 2008 at his Monroe Township home. State Police filed criminal charges against the accuser in April accusing him of making false reports to police concerning the incident.
At that time, police executed a search warrant at Barclay’s Cumberland County home and seized video surveillance footage, cameras and computer equipment.
The criminal complaint states that Barclay had hidden surveillance cameras located in various locations throughout his residence including in the bathroom, bedrooms and indoor recreational areas. These cameras were located inside of AM/FM radios, motion detectors and intercom speaker systems.
According to the charges, Barclay allegedly used the cameras to record sexual encounters that he had with young men, some of whom were male escorts. Barclay allegedly saved approximately 100-500 sexual encounters for personal sexual gratification.
Corbett said that Barclay allegedly saved the footage from the encounters on his computer system and had direct feeds from his video surveillance system into his computer system.
The charges state that 13 separate males were observed nude and/or engaged in sexual intercourse on hidden camera footage in 176 separate video clips.
The charges state that Barclay was the only one who knew about the hidden cameras located throughout his home and allegedly never obtained permission to video tape anyone engaged in sexual activity.
According to the criminal complaint, many of the sexual encounters videotaped were males that Barclay had hired from an escort service. The charges state that Barclay also hired male prostitutes on a weekly basis at his home.
As investigators reviewed Barclay’s computer files they located an email from SpectorSoft, confirming the purchase of Eblaster software. The software is marketed as computer spy software aimed at enabling parents to monitor their children’s computer use.
The software uses a stealth technology that does not show up on the computer or slow its operation.
The charges state that Barclay purchased the software in July 2007 and installed the software on a 22 year-old male’s computer. Barclay’s email account was then automatically sent the young man’s personal emails, chats, keystrokes typed and visited Internet sites.
According to the criminal complaint, Barclay purchased the young man a laptop shortly after buying the software and allegedly installed the Eblaster software without permission.
Barclay is charged with 13 counts of invasion of privacy, one count of interception, disclosure or use of wire, electronic or oral communications, one count of unlawful use of a computer, one count of unlawful duplication and one count of prostitution. He faces a maximum penalty of up to 48 years in prison and up to $113,500 in fines.
Barclay will be preliminarily arraigned before Mechanicsburg Magisterial District Justice Thomas Placey.
The case will be prosecuted in Cumberland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jonelle Eshbach of the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit.