Former Memphis Grizzlies public address announcer Rick Trotter has pled guilty to four misdemeanor counts of unlawfully photographing women under their skirts in violation of privacy at a church where he was a worship leader, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich said Monday.
Trotter, 41, whose full name is Dwayne Rick Trotter, was ordered to serve 60 days at the Shelby County Penal Farm followed by four years of probation to expire May 1, 2022. Trotter also must register as a Non-Violent Sex Offender, and was ordered to have no contact with his victims.
The settlement was approved Friday by Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward.
Trotter was charged in May of 2016 after officials with The Downtown Church filed a complaint with Memphis Police about Trotter using his church-issued cell phone to take videos under a woman’s skirt as he kneeled behind her.
An investigation showed additional up-skirt videos he had taken of other female church members and downloaded onto his church-issued laptop.
The victims, whose ages ranged from 29 to 63, identified themselves on the videos by clothing, voice and surroundings. Trotter gave church officials and police a statement of admission.
The case was handled by Eric Christensen, chief prosecutor of the DA’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) which prosecutes cases of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse of child victims; rape and aggravated rape of adult victims, and abuse of elderly and vulnerable adults.
SVU reviews child-victim cases with Shelby County’s multi-agency Child Protection Investigative Team.
