The Oklahoman newspaper reporter who wrote heartbreaking stories of families torn apart by the Moore tornado has been arrested for allegedly taking upskirt pictures of high school girls at the devastated town's graduation ceremony.
The Lost Ogle, an Oklahoma City blog, broke the story this morning of Zeke Campfield's arrest at the May 25 high school graduation.
According to testimony from victims and eye witnesses, Campfield, while working as a photographer for the Oklahoman, intentionally bumped into female students from the tornado ravaged town while attempting to take photographs up their dresses. When confronted, Campfield allegedly deleted the photos from his camera. He tried to leave the scene, but was held by witnesses until police arrived.
Several girls told police that Campfield repeatedly bumped into them and deliberately brushed past them while taking pictures, despite the convention center being "not so crowded." Several witnesses told police that Campfield was pointing his camera up the dresses of girl students. When police arrived and questioned him, Campfield reportedly had already removed his camera's memory card.
Campfield is a reporter and photographer for the daily, the state's largest newspaper. Following the enormous tornadoes that destroyed a mile-wide swath of suburban Moore, Campfield wrote and reported many tragic stories of death and destruction—10 children were killed and 2 elementary schools were destroyed. The graduation ceremony at the Cox Convention Center was for Moore, Southmoore and Westmoore high schools. Coming so soon after the horrific tornado, organizers had to plan for national and international media at the small-town ceremony.
Campfield went silent on Twitter for a week, until last night when he retweeted a list of Oklahoma schools with "safe rooms."
One of the child victims of Monday's tornado has the same Hello Kitty window curtains as my own little girl.
— Zeke Campfield (@ZekeCampfield) May 24, 2013
Campfield has reportedly been arrested and jailed before, in Montana. In 2003, "Nathaniel Zeke Campfield" was sentenced in Montana for felony burglary, when he was 21.
Just learned that Campfield's 2003 Montana arrest was for stealing... panties. This is getting bizarre. Very sad.
— The Lost Ogle (@TheLostOgle) May 30, 2013
The Oklahoma City Police Department's incident report, with underage victims' names redacted, details the weird scene as students and parents began calling police to report the alleged pervert. According to the report, several witnesses held Campfield when he tried to flee the building before police arrived.
Zeke Campfield Arrest Oklahoman (PDF)Zeke Campfield Arrest Oklahoman (Text)
Campfield has not been suspended or fired. Kelly Dyer Fry, the daily's editor and vice president of news, signed this statement that was sent to Gawker on Thursday afternoon:
We are aware of the arrest and have taken initial steps to understand and address the situation internally. Zeke Campfield has been a valuable, trusted member of our news staff for more than a year, so we are very surprised by the allegations in the police report. We will continue to monitor the situation, but will allow the authorities and the court system to do their job before finalizing our response.
One commenter on The Lost Ogle blog claims it's not the first time Campfield has been suspected of shooting creepshots while reporting for the newspaper.
Campfield's latest article on the destruction of the elementary schools in Moore appears in today's Oklahoman.
[Photos and police report via The Lost Ogle and Oklahoma City Police Department.]