Days after a Dayton man was arrested and accused of looking at women under bathroom stalls following at least a dozen previous convictions, a local lawmaker said the state should review voyeurism laws.
“It’s an interesting point, and certainly something the legislature should look into, is the fact that a voyeurism charge does not escalate after more than one penalty,” said state Rep. Niraj Antani of Miamisburg. “We should certainly look into escalating penalties.”
Harold Rimblert III, 35, was charged with two counts of voyeurism after he was accused of looking under stalls at Panera Bread and Michaels store in Beavercreek last week.
He has more than a dozen voyeurism convictions dating back to 2005 for incidents in Dayton, Englewood, Kettering, Moraine, Trotwood and Washington Twp., municipal court records show. The state’s sex offender registry lists seven of those voyeurism convictions for Rimblert.
Voyeurism is a misdemeanor charge in Ohio, unless the victim is a minor. The state law also doesn’t allow for increased penalties for multiple offenses of voyeurism.
“It’s all controlled by statute,” said Tom Hagel, University of Dayton law professor. “That’s probably what has kept him out of prison, because they can only come up with misdemeanor charges.”
Rimblert, a registered sex offender, previously was arrested in January after police said he walked into a women’s restroom at Kettering Health Network’s offices on Prestige Place and looked at a naked woman in a secured restroom stall, court records read. That case is pending in Miamisburg Municipal Court.
Rimblert was convicted in the fall of 2017 for looking under a stall in a women’s restroom at the Montgomery County administration building on West Third Street in Dayton.
After reviewing surveillance video in the Montgomery County case, detectives were able to identify Rimblert as a suspect, according to an incident report.
The 35-year-old also was convicted of voyeurism in 2017 in Kettering Municipal Court in connection to incidents at a church on Shroyer Road.
On Aug. 3, 2017, he was accused of “looking under bathroom stalls as women were using the restroom” at the church and two victims were identified in that case, according to court records.
Rimblert, a Tier III sex offender, must register his address every 90 days with the sheriff's office for the rest of his life.
