Crime

Winchester man pleads guilty to secretly taping teenage girls

James Fantini, 56, admitted to filming the unsuspecting 15-year-olds while they undressed and showered at a Winchester home.

July 11, 2025

1 minute to read

A Winchester man has pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping three 15-year-old girls at a Winchester home, authorities announced Friday.

James Fantini, 56, admitted in a Woburn District Court Monday to three separate incidents of taping the unsuspecting girls getting undressed and then showering at a Winchester home, according to a statement by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Winchester Chief of Police Daniel O’Connell.

In August 2024, detectives in Huntington Beach, California, notified Winchester police and Ryan’s office that they had found the videos on Fantini’s phone. Investigators say Fantini had been in California in June of that year, chaperoning a soccer tournament, when he allegedly tried to film two other 15-year-old girls undressing in a hotel bathroom, according to officials.

Authorities say Fantini allegedly hid his cell phone under a baseball hat to get the video. However, the girls noticed and quickly contacted police, who searched Fantini’s cell phone. That’s when they found the videos showing the Massachusetts victims, who knew Fantini as a parent in the community, according to the statement.

Fantini was charged with three counts of photographing an unsuspecting person and of unlawful wiretap. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison followed by three years of probation. During probation, Fantini must wear a GPS, stay out of Winchester, and have no contact with the victims or anyone under 18.