Man, 50, pleads guilty to trying to hide through 19-year-old’s bedroom window in Milford

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) – A 50-year-old man accused of looking through a 19-year-old’s bedroom window in Milford pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of voyeurism and one count of criminal trespass, according to Clermont County. court records.

Court records show Ernest Smith faces up to 90 days in jail and may have to register as a first-level sex offender.

This is not the first time Smith has pleaded guilty to voyeurism. Court records show Smith has three prior convictions for criminal trespassing and one for voyeurism. Smith pleaded guilty to voyeurism in 2018 and 2020, resulting in a Tier 1 sex offender registration, according to court records.

A woman named Brenda says her daughter, then 16, was a victim in the 2018 case.

She claims his security cameras caught him looking into his daughter’s bedroom after some blinds were broken.

Brenda said her heart broke when she found out about the most recent case in Milford.

“I had to hide my tears behind sunglasses to get through the day,” Brenda explained.

In September, Goshen Township police were called to a private property on Parker Road around 10 p.m. for “an unknown suspicious person” on the property, according to a complaint filed in Clermont County Municipal Court.

The complaint says the caller informed police that his security system had sent a motion alert.

After viewing the video footage, the caller discovered an unknown person walking outside the house.

The complaint says the man slowly approached the 19-year-old’s bedroom window and attempted to look out the window, placing his hands on the sill and standing on tiptoes.

That’s when the motion light activated, causing Smith to look at the camera, bend over and ultimately flee the scene on foot in an unknown direction, according to the complaint.

He was finally arrested.

Smith was released from prison in March 2019 and convicted in 2020 after a Clermont County resident caught him walking around his property. Records show Smith was arrested again in 2022 after violating his probation and failing to file a change of address notice.

Court records show Smith’s sentencing date is November 5.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a news report? Send it’s ours here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 WXIX. All rights reserved.