NIC teacher faces video voyeurism charges
COEUR d’ALENE — A Coeur d’Alene college instructor and gay rights activist is facing two felony counts of video voyeurism.
Jonathan Downing, 35, a North Idaho College chemistry instructor, was arrested Wednesday evening and booked into the Kootenai County Jail around 7 p.m. after being accused of videotaping his roommate and the man’s girlfriend in the bathroom of Downing and the alleged victim’s home on the 1700 block of Nettleton Gulch Road in Coeur d’Alene.
Downing’s bond was set at $35,000 Thursday at his first appearance in First District Magistrate Court.
Coeur d’Alene police said the alleged male victim, a 20-year-old former student of Downing’s, found a pinhole video camera in a wall after becoming suspicious that he was being video recorded. On a computer that both men shared, the alleged victim, “found secretly recorded videos of him and a female friend,” Det. Jared Reneau said.
The videos included nude footage of the roommate and his girlfriend shot at different times, police said.
During an interview with police, Downing, who is gay, told investigators he had inadvertently recorded the woman.
“Downing admitted he intentionally placed the camera to covertly record video of the male victim while the male was in the bathroom,” Reneau said in a press release.
The alleged victim told police he found more files of videos and nude images on computers in the house prompting police to serve a search warrant late Wednesday at the Nettleton Gulch residence.
Downing, who has lived in the area for 27 years and does not have a criminal record, is a self-described human rights activist and has served as an adviser for North Idaho College’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, a student group that promotes “a positive and supportive environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex questioning and straight people as well as those who support them.”
The group, Thursday on its Facebook page, posted a note of support to anyone affected by Downing’s arrest.
“Many people have been personally affected by the news that broke this morning regarding Jon Downing,” said the social media post. “Please do not hesitate to contact NIC’s Crisis Response Unit or the ASNIC office for support or with questions.”
The college responded to the news of Downing’s arrest by issuing a statement that the instructor was suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation and trespassed from the NIC campus. In the press release, Laura Rumpler, head of college communications, said Downing was the subject of a discrimination investigation.
“Downing was recently the subject of a Title IX investigation as a result of a complaint unrelated to law enforcement charges,” Rumpler said, noting the college is in the process of adjudicating the sexual discrimination claim.
The alleged victim of the recent criminal charges, who has known Downing since he was 15, told investigators that Downing over the years often “would slap (him) on the buttock,” and tell him, “just wait until you are 18,” according to a police report.
Magistrate Anna Eckhart issued a no-contact order between the alleged victim and Downing, and ordered a preliminary hearing set within 21 days.