Celebrated Small-Town Photographer Convicted of Secretly Taking Pictures of Women and Minors

A photographer, who was once celebrated as a fixture of a U.S. small town, has been convicted of taking illegal photos of women and minors.

For years, William Robert Curlee was known as the trusted photographer of Mount Airy, North Carolina — the small town that served as inspiration for the fictional community of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show.

Curlee was even affectionately dubbed “Mayberry’s photographer” by the public for his reputation for taking stunning images of Mount Airy and the town’s events, shows, and festivals.

However, 66-year-old Curlee has now been charged with multiple counts of felony and misdemeanor secret peeping over accusations that he took inappropriate images of women while documenting the town.

According to the state Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry, Curlee’s punishment includes 30 months of probation, and will be registered as a sex offender for at least the next 10 years. Curlee was convicted in court on June 30, after he apologized following the testimony of multiple victims.

On October 7, 2024, Curlee was accused of using a hidden camera phone in Mount Airy’s central business district to secretly take upskirt photos. The device was reportedly concealed in or near his camera bag and positioned upward to capture images from that angle. The police chief says they found photos that targeted women “who were unaware and without their consent.”

‘He Took Advantage of The Kindness of our Town’

Laura Jennings of Mayberry tells WJTV that Curlee, better known as “Robbie,” was known by many in the Mount Airy community.

“He was the photographer that would volunteer his time for downtown events and stuff. He’d just take pictures of all the stuff downtown, whether it was a formal event or just a Saturday. He would just come down and take pictures of people in the streets,” Jennings tells the news outlet.

According to WJTV, Jennings recalls how Curlee often offered to take photos of her family, but over time, she began to feel uneasy about the way he photographed her.

“I’ve been able to find times where he has put his camera bag near where I was standing because I had a dress on. I very explicitly remember where I asked him if I could, ‘move your camera bag, could I move your phone.’ He would say, ‘No. It’s fine right there.’ That’s where he would say, ‘That’s where I’ll position you.’ Like a marker point,” Jennings says.

She later learned from the Mount Airy Police Department that Curlee had been taking photos up her skirt — and she wasn’t the only one.

“He just basically took advantage of Mayberry and the kindness of our town. He violated countless women. Violated their bodies… they found two minors,” Jennings tells WJTV.

Curlee reportedly moved to Mount Airy in 2018 and became a cherished member of the town for taking pictures of all the events, shows, festivals, and parades that took place in the town. In 2023, Curlee was even given Mount Airy’s first-ever AGORA award, for contributions to the community that went “above and beyond,” got a key to the city, and was named a “North Carolina Main Street Champion.”

Curlee’s last public photos, posted on Facebook the day before he was reported to police, showed a food truck festival in Mount Airy.

Secret peeping is charged as a misdemeanor when the perpetrator is just looking; it becomes a felony when someone “secretly or surreptitiously uses any device to create a photographic image of another person underneath or through the clothing being worn by that other person to view the body of, or the undergarments worn by, that other person without their consent.”

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.