Creepy VHS recordings haunt former Saratoga Blue Streaks runners

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The student-athletes who run cross country for the Saratoga Blue Streaks have always been able to outrun their competition, what they haven’t been able to outrun is a creep with a video camera.

“He knew where we would practice. He knew where we would run. We’d change up our running routes, and he’d still follow,” said a woman who was a member of the school’s cross-country team in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

She only learned recently those old videos of her and her teammates have been showing up on Instagram.

“It’s a whole different ball game now with social media,” she said. “Back when he was filming us, it was all on VHS, so it looks like he has now digitized the content.”

Those digitized images of adolescent girls being objectified by sexualized hashtags are not only unsettling for runners, they also conjure memories they’d all like to forget.

“I never had direct contact with him,” the woman began, “I saw him from a distance, typically when he was filming us when we were on the high school team. He was filming from either behind a tree or from a car, and he was trying to conceal himself.”

Saratoga Springs Police told NewsChannel 13 they’re investigating several complaints regarding the case. They also reminded people that taking pictures of people in a public place is not illegal.

One of the women who said she feels exploited by the man with the video camera has a message for him.

“Please stop!” she said. “Especially targeting minors. It is a huge violation of safety, security and trust, something that has affected me my whole life. It happened to me starting at 15 or 16, and I’ve never felt safe as a result. I never go out by myself running or hiking without a phone, and a knife, and pepper spray.”

NewsChannel 13 has learned the identity of the man involved, but because he has not been charged with any crime connected to the videotaping or social media posts, we are withholding his name.