30 August 2024
ALBERT LEA, Minn. — A photographer, who lived in Cloquet at the time, allegedly surreptitiously recorded a bride getting dressed at a wedding venue in southern Minnesota.
Mitchell Donald Ringness, 30, now of Pine City, will make his first appearance Thursday, Sept. 5 in State District Court in Freeborn County on a gross misdemeanor interfering with privacy charge.
Ringness, who operated MR Photography in Cloquet, is accused of video recording a client without her consent before her wedding at The Barn at Chapeau Shores in Albert Lea in October 2020.
According to court documents, Ringness’ former girlfriend gave a flash drive to Cloquet Police in April. She reportedly told police she was suspicious after seeing Ringness come out of the bathroom with his laptop in the middle of the night. She reported finding photographs and videos of naked women that appeared to have been secretly taken.
One video that was recorded from a low angle reportedly shows a bride disrobe and put on her wedding gown. Another woman in the room goes to get someone named “Mitchell” and a photographer with the same body build as Ringness comes into the room and begins to take photos before the video recording stops, according to court documents.
A Cloquet detective turned the case over to Albert Lea police after comparing the video with photographs posted on Ringness’ Facebook page. An Albert Lea detective reviewed the video and online photographs, and visited the wedding venue in person to confirm it was the location of the video, according to the charges.
The bride in the video told police she employed Ringness to photograph her wedding but had not consented to being recorded while getting dressed.
Ringness was not arrested pending his first court appearance. His MR Photography website and Facebook page have been taken offline.
In 2012 Ringness pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct. That charge was dismissed after he served 10 days in jail and two years of probation.
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