Man charged with filming children at church camp
Jun. 21—A man was charged this week after investigators said he admitted to filming underage campers in a bathroom at a southeast Oklahoma church camp.
Luke Andrew Bartels, 19 of Lexington, was charged this week in Latimer County District Court with felony counts of manufacturing child pornography, peeping tom with photographic/electronic equipment, and violation of Oklahoma statute via computer, according to charges filed by the District 16 District Attorney's Office.
Records show Bartels was being held Wednesday in the Latimer County Jail on a $100,000 bond prior to his scheduled Wednesday afternoon arraignment.
Court documents state Bartels' conditions of bond are to have no contact with any child under the age of 18 and no internet usage "of any kind."
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Michael Oliver, an agent with the District 16 District Attorney's Office, the investigation into Bartels began after a report was taken by the Latimer County Sheriff's Office for a sexual assault investigation at the Kiamichi Baptist Assembly Campgrounds near Talihina.
Bartels agreed to speak with investigators after he was brought in for an interview at the LCSO in Wilburton, the report states.
According to the affidavit, Bartels admitted to filming a person in the shower at the campground without the person's consent.
"Bartels wanted me to believe that this was the only crime and attempted to downplay it," Oliver wrote in his report with Bartels agreeing for to a search of his phone.
When asked about other videos taken at the campgrounds, Bartels admitted to videoing four boys and that he made between eight to 10 videos, the affidavit states.
Oliver wrote in his report he found other videos of child pornography saved to Bartels' Snapchat account with one being of a young child taken in a restroom of Chesapeake Arena in Oklahoma City.
"I found multiple other videos that Bartels told me was created at Noble High School, those persons he claimed he did not know, but were pornographic and could possibly be child pornography," Oliver wrote in his report.
In a statement made on social media, the Oklahoma Christian Education Board, the organization in charge of the Encounter Teen Camp during the week of the incident, thanked the swift action of staff and law enforcement.
"As a board we take security and camper safety seriously. This is why we hire a police officer, registered nurse, and require background checks for all sponsors," the board said in the online statement. "We continue to discuss and adjust our policies each summer for your student's safety."
The statement goes on to say that Bartels was a camper and not a sponsor and was eligible to attend the camp because he had just graduated high school.
"There's a silver lining," the board said in the statement. "Thank goodness he was apprehended under these circumstances, where all parties took swift action, before his actions could escalate any further."
