Elk Grove Village man pleads guilty to recording woman in bathroom

An Elk Grove Village man charged after authorities say he videotaped a woman in a restroom at Harper College last fall pleaded guilty to amended charges Monday in Rolling Meadows.

Christopher Byers, 21, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of unauthorized videotaping. In exchange for the plea, Cook County Judge Ellen Mandletort sentenced Byers to 18 months probation and ordered him to have no contact with the victim or with Harper College. Mandletort also ordered Byers to undergo a mental health evaluation and counseling and pay $285 in fines, court records show.

Byers had been charged with a class 4 felony.

Byers was a business student at the Palatine college last fall when a woman in her early 30s noticed someone in the next stall using a cellphone to record her, authorities said. The woman notified Harper College police, who found Byers in the restroom with his cellphone, authorities said. After his arrest, a judge ordered he stay away from the campus.

The criminal case concluded, Byers is entitled under the school’s student code of conduct to a hearing by a panel made up of three Harper faculty members and two students who will hear testimony from him and the victim, said Harper College spokesman Phil Burdick.

The panel may vote to expel or suspend Byers or they may recommend him for conditional enrollment, Burdick said. Byers has the right to appeal the panel’s decision to the dean of student affairs and the provost if he chooses, Burdick said.