Judge dismisses sexual exploitation charges against former Wichita State director
Update, Sept. 17, 2025: A Sedgwick County jury found Christopher Garnier not guilty of six counts of breach of privacy. For more, see this report.
Original story from July 24, 2024: A Kansas district judge has dismissed six counts of sexual exploitation of a child levied against a former Wichita State University employee who placed a clock with a camera in a minor’s bedroom. The camera then recorded the minor undressing.
The judge cited a lack of probable cause for those charges against Christopher Garnier. The charges accuse someone of persuading or coercing someone under 18 to engage in “sexually explicit conduct with the intent to promote any performance,” according to the complaint.
Sedgwick County District Judge Seth L. Rundle is also considering whether to dismiss six additional charges of breach of privacy filed by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office against Garnier after the Wichita Police Department found six videos of a minor in various states of undress on his cell phone.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the decision to dismiss the six exploitation charges was made after a re-review of the facts and the law.
“Upon further review of the investigation, the decision was made that Kansas case law will not support the amended charges,” Bennett said in an email Wednesday. “So, the case will proceed under the original charges — breach of privacy.”
They had been recorded from inside the minor’s bedroom using a hidden camera in a clock that Garnier bought on Amazon, according to the Wichita police probable cause affidavit. Garnier told investigators that the point of the camera was not to view the minor in the nude for sexual gratification but to “make sure she was not getting herself into trouble.”
Court documents say the incidents occurred on April 20, 21 and 24 and appear to involve the same victim, whose identity and age were not disclosed by prosecutors.
An order filed in the case by Rundle says he will take the breach of privacy charges “under advisement pending preliminary examination.”
Garnier, 46, had been director of Executive Education and Center for Management Development for the W. Frank Barton School of Business. His employment at WSU ended around the time he was arrested on May 2.
Contributing: Chance Swaim of The Wichita Eagle
This story was originally published July 24, 2024 at 4:15 PM.