EVERETT — A Snohomish County judge on Wednesday wanted to make sure the women and their families saw Terry Jensen leave the courtroom in handcuffs.
Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss also wanted to make sure that the former Westgate Chapel volunteer spent Easter behind bars. The judge said he hoped that sitting in jail during the holiday would make Jensen reflect on how his behavior affected his victims.
“His crimes were well thought out and deliberate actions,” Weiss said.
The defendant was in a position of trust and he violated that trust, the judge added.
Jensen, 56, pleaded guilty in January to one count of voyeurism, a felony, and one count of attempted voyeurism, a gross misdemeanor. He was accused of secretly taking pictures up the skirts of women.
One of the women, 18, was helping Jensen during a puppet show at Westgate Chapel in Edmonds when he took the secret pictures. Jensen was a volunteer magician and puppeteer with the church’s children’s ministry.
The other victim was a fellow parishioner and worked for Jensen. In a letter to the judge, she wrote that Jensen had become a spiritual mentor to her and her husband, as well as their marriage counselor and financial adviser. She considered him a father figure.
Jensen in 2009 used a small camera to take photographs up her skirt during a shopping trip.
Weiss on Wednesday sentenced Jensen to two months and four days in jail. He will be allowed to serve two months on work release. Weiss said he recognized that Jensen’s employees and business partner rely on him and their livelihood could be affected if he was jailed for an extended period and not allowed to work.
Jensen will be on probation for three years and must register as a sex offender. The judge also ordered that Jensen disclose his criminal offenses to his female employees and any woman he hires in the future.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell had recommended a 30-day jail sentence, calling Jensen a prolific and brazen voyeur. Cornell originally had charged Jensen with one count of child molestation along with the voyeurism offenses. He dropped the molestation charge after the defense provided him new information that demonstrated it would have been difficult to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
Weiss agreed to grant a no-contact order between Jensen and the child named in the dismissed charge.
Jensen apologized on Wednesday. He said he’s in counseling and is taking medication for a lifelong mental health problem that had gone untreated until now.
He said he knows those who trusted him deserve to know why he did what he did. He tried to offer some explanation, at one point saying he is a sinner and also pointing to his mental health diagnosis.
“I absolutely imploded. I make no excuses for it,” Jensen said. “I deserve to be punished. I want them to watch me be punished. I’m truly sorry.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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