Convicted sex offender accused of using sunglasses camera to record children at Boston Common Frog Pond
A convicted sex offender accused of recording video of children at the Boston Common Frog Pond using sunglasses with a camera has been ordered held on $250,000 bail.
Mark Sullivan, 59, was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Brockton. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of photographing sexual or intimate parts of a child at his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court.
Boston Police were called to the Frog Pond around 1 p.m. Friday when several witnesses told officers a man, later identified as Sullivan, was recording video of children in the playground using a camera in his sunglasses and his cellphone.
"Additional witnesses stated the suspect used the glasses to record a family who was attempting to change their children, who were wrapped in a towel for privacy," police said in a statement Tuesday.
"When the family attempted to move due to the suspect's behavior, he followed them, scanning the children up and down with the camera sunglasses."
The witnesses confronted Sullivan and he took off his sunglasses and tried to break them, police said.
"When officers observed the damaged glasses in the suspect's hands, he stated that he was confronted by a group of individuals who pulled the glasses off of his face and assaulted him," police said in the statement.
Officers seized Sullivan's sunglasses and phone. They eventually got a warrant and arrested him Tuesday morning.
According to state records, Sullivan has ten convictions related to child sex offenses since 1999, including a 10-to 15-year prison sentence out of Plymouth County in 2009 for possession of child pornography, subsequent offense. Sullivan has not worked since 2007, his attorney said in court Tuesday.
The prosecutor requested $100,000 bail while Sullivan's lawyer asked for $1,000.
"His record is bad. It's bad," the judge said as he rejected both requests and ordered Sullivan's bail set at $250,000.
If he makes bail, Sullivan has been ordered to stay away from children and stay confined to his home with a GPS tracking device. He must also stay off the internet and stay out of Boston.
Sullivan is due back in court September 15.
