Man accused of taking photos under 9-year-old’s dress

A 31-year-old Portland man is accused of taking cellphone photos up the dress of a 9-year-old girl at a wedding reception last year in La Center.

Carl Louis Rainey made an initial appearance Wednesday morning in Clark County Superior Court. Clark County sheriff’s deputies arrested Rainey a day earlier on suspicion of first-degree voyeurism.

Court documents show that Judge Suzan Clark granted Rainey supervised release.

A La Center police officer was dispatched the evening of Aug. 18 to La Center Community Park, 1000 E. Fourth St., for a report of a man taking photos up a young girl’s skirt, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Rainey’s father was the first to approach the officer, stating that his son had dropped a cellphone and accidentally snapped some photos while picking it up, according to the affidavit.

The officer spoke with a wedding photographer who called police. He said his co-worker reported seeing Rainey take the inappropriate photos, according to the affidavit. Both of them watched Rainey call the girl over to his table, distract her by pointing to a wall and then place his cellphone between her legs. The photographer “stated he saw a flash function on the cellphone (Rainey) was holding,” the affidavit says.

When confronted, Rainey “became nervous and agitated,” the photographer told police. Rainey reportedly fled from the wedding when the bride demanded his phone.

Rainey’s next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.