Last member of five-man Sammyboy peeping tom ring is convicted

He had installed cameras in toilets disguised as wall hooks at particular angles for optimal filming.

Matthias Ang | August 25, 2018, 06:14 PM

On August 23, The Straits Times reported that a 26-year old digital marketing specialist Clarence Tang Jia Ming pleaded guilty to 31 counts of insulting a woman's modesty, and one count of being in possession of 2,103 obscene films for the purpose of distribution. He committed the offences between 2014 and 2016.

A member of the Sammyboy Forum -- a sex-themed forum with hundreds of threads sharing obscene material -- Tang was the last of five members in a voyeur ring on the forum to be sentenced.

Ring was established in September 2016

Known as the SG Horizon Club, the group was established in 2016 for the purpose of distributing secretly-filmed videos of women and girls in public toilets and changing rooms.

As reported by Channel NewsAsia in multiple articles, the other four members are:

He was arrested in Nov 2016, two months after he established the group, and was sentenced on January 31 to two years' jail, along with a fine of S$80,000. He was charged for establishing the group and possessing 801 obscene films for distribution.

  • Kenneth Ong Yi Jie, 27, customer service officer and the member who taught Tang how to plant hidden cameras at the best angles.

Ong was sentenced on February 6 to three years' jail for insulting the modesty of at least 250 women and girls, and for the possession of 57 obscene films for distribution.

Chew was sentenced to six months' jail in October 2017 after receiving one charge under the Films Act for possessing 280 explicit videos for the purpose of distribution.

  • Shaun Lee, 29, fund accountant.

The Straits Times reports that Lee was sentenced to 11 months' jail on March 20 after filming a female friend in his home toilet without her knowledge and possessing 663 obscene films for distribution.

Tang's favourite spot

According to Channel NewsAsia, most of the 31 charges of insulting a woman's modesty came from Tang's hiding of a camera, disguised as a wall hook, in the toilet of a Starbucks cafe at Holland Village.

Tang had chosen this particular location because of the "the high number of females aged between 18 and 25 years who were likely to use [the] toilets" there.

In total, up to 68 films were recorded in this location, which Deputy Public Prosecutor Li Yihong indicated were of "very high quality and resolution".

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The Straits Times also reported Lee as noting that if his camera captured males or females who looked older than 25 years old, he would delete the video.

Channel NewsAsia also highlighted Tang's installment of another wall-hook camera in his own bathroom which he subsequently used to record a 22-year old female friend taking a shower.

Arrested in November 2016

Tang was arrested in November 2016 after the Ministry of Education lodged a report with the police that it had been informed of obscene videos involving schoolgirls in toilets and changing rooms circulating online. A subsequent raid at his home yielded the 2,103 obscene films within two hard drives.

The Straits Times reports that Tang is currently out on bail of $15,000, with the pre-trial conference for his case scheduled Sept 4.

Top Image from sbf.net