Six Flags 'Peeping Tom' Sentenced, Charges Reduced

A Pacific man accused of peeping on teenage girls as they changed at a Six Flags dressing room last summer has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that dropped his original felony charges to misdemeanors.

According to online court records, Jeremy Bates, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of invasion of privacy. 

Bates' sentence was suspended contingent on his completion of two years of probation and orders to undergo a sex offender evaluation, receive counseling and have no contact with the victims.

On Aug. 8, 2012, at the Six Flags St. Louis Park, police said Bates knowingly viewed the two teenagers in the state of full or partial nudity through a small gap around a door frame of a public dressing room in the water park area of Six Flags.

Authorities said the mother of the two girls witnessed Bates watching them while in the dressing room, and reported the incident to Six Flags authorities, who in turn contacted the Eureka Police Department.

There were other women changing in the same dressing room Aug. 8, according to police records, and Bates had discovered the crack the day before and watched several women changing clothing over the course of two days.

Bates was an employee of Six Flags at the time of the incident and had no prior offenses for sex-related crimes.