
I feel like now is the time to have our first poll at the conclusion of this post, PLEASE, take a couple of minutes and take this poll, we value you as friends and value your input, so help us make this site what it should be to HELP Our Children of this world.
When Oregon teen Madison Reed was just 13 years old, her father’s good friend and neighbor Bradley McCollum began videotaping her. This secret taping went on for four years.
McCollum, 48, hid a camera in Madison’s bedroom, pointed at her bed.
McCollum was good friends with Madison’s dad, Clark Reed. He visited their home often and even vacationed with them at the Reed family’s beach house on Cannon Beach. This adds a whole other element to this case that makes it even more upsetting. It’s a complete betrayal besides being criminal.
McCollum’s videotapes include footage of Madison at the beach house and in her bedroom over the course of four years. He was only found out because Madison’s mom saw him exit her daughter’s bedroom during a visit.
She searched the room later and discovered the video camera under papers on the desk. The family didn’t want to believe it was their friend
“We were looking for every excuse to think it was someone else until we found proof. Our world was upside down,” Reed said to KGW-TV regarding his former friend.
The hidden camera captured Madison, a minor, undressing and naked, and yet McCollum’s recordings do not constitute child pornography because of the laws in Oregon.
Madison is now 18 and she is having a hard time with this. She said, “I don’t like to think about it, but I think about it all the time — like all day. Every day. There’s no choice but to think about it”.
McCollum has been charged with felony burglary and invasion of privacy. He does not have to register as a sex offender and that just feels so wrong.
The state of Oregon is working to change their laws.
Madison is speaking out on the matter in hopes changes will be made. I also hope this family doesn’t blame themselves — something the parents may be struggling with since they believed this man was their friend.
This man needs help, serious help. And a couple of years in prison may not be enough. His sentencing is on March 4.
For now, and even after this sentencing, he is allowed to be Madison’s neighbor.