Four counts of the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material against former Spencerville mayor Phillip Briggs were dismissed by prosecutors Thursday and a fifth count was reduced from a second-degree felony to a misdemeanor. A bench trial for Briggs, 45, of Spencerville, was concluded in short order in Allen County Common Pleas Court and Judge Jeffrey Reed took evidence under consideration. A verdict is to be rendered at a later date.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — Copies of video recordings, screen shots of images contained on those videos and a laptop computer were submitted for review by Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed on Thursday in the bench trial of former Spencerville Mayor Phillip Briggs.
The proceedings also featured the state’s dismissal of four counts of the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material against the Spencerville man and the reduction of a fifth charge to a misdemeanor offense.
Briggs was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in May on five of the second-degree felony counts for allegedly videotaping two teenage girls in various stages of undress. In July the grand jury added a sixth count.
Briggs, 45, was initially accused of recording the young girls in various stages of nudity at a residence in Spencerville between May 6 and June 17 of 2022. An amended timeline placed the date of the incident for which Briggs was tried between April 1 and June 1, 2022.
Detectives from the Allen County Sheriff’s Office arrested the former mayor on Jan. 30 after interviewing him and the two girls and conducting search warrants at a home and on a laptop.
Briggs had previously waived his right to a jury trial in the case and opted instead to have a trial to the court, with Reed as the sole trier of facts. Prior to the start of the trial on Thursday, Allen County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joe Everhart said the parties had reached an agreement that called for Briggs to plead guilty to a reduced charge of voyeurism and that the state would dismiss four counts of the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. The trial, he said, would go forward on the remaining felony charge.
Neither Everhart nor defense attorney Kenneth Rexford presented evidence or called witnesses in the trial, instead choosing to stipulate to the authenticity of 71 photos, videos and other evidence submitted for the judge’s consideration. Reed said he would review the evidence and render his verdict at a later date.
Following the hearing Everhart said the dismissal of four charges against Briggs came about as a result of “additional discovery and evidence” that one of the alleged victims in the case was not a minor at the time of the incidents.
With his plea of guilty to the voyeurism charge, Briggs faces a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail, a $750 fine and the designation as a Tier 1 sex offender, which requires registration with the authorities annually for 15 years. A conviction on the more serious charge would change the registration requirements.
