How the discovery of a hidden camera revealed a doctor’s dark secrets
A seemingly perfect family life unraveled after the disturbing revelation.
Single mom’s life takes dark turn in new season of ‘Betrayal’ docPodcast host Andrea Gunning discusses the newest season of the hit true crime docuseries on Hulu, “Betrayal: Under His Eye.”
Courtesy of Stacey Rutherford
A Pennsylvania single mother’s marriage to a charming doctor took a dark turn after the discovery of a hidden camera destroyed the life she thought they had been building. The case became even more horrifying when he was accused of plotting to silence a key witness.
Justin Rutherford is in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing his stepson and another minor, while also being convicted in a separate murder-for-hire plot. His medical license was revoked after his conviction.
He was sentenced to 26 years and 10 months to 70 years, with 12 years of special probation for charges including rape of a child and invasion of privacy in February 2024, along with a charge of “rape of an unconscious victim.” He later received an additional concurrent sentence of five to 10 years for attempting to arrange the murder of his stepson from prison.
ABC News Studios’ “Betrayal: Under His Eye,” a three-part series, is streaming in its entirety on Disney+ and Hulu from Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The case gained national attention when actor Anthony Edwards, known for his roles in “ER” and “Top Gun,” met Rutherford’s stepson Tyler VanScyoc through the “1 in 6” organization, which supports male survivors of sexual abuse.
“More kids are going to get hurt and stay silent like I did when people don’t share,” Edwards told ABC News. “From a lot of survivors in the world that I’ve met, they’re saying ‘Tell Tyler thanks.'”
The investigation began in summer 2021 when a teenage friend of VanScyoc discovered a hidden camera disguised as a phone charger in the Rutherford family’s bathroom. The friend took the camera home and showed his mother, who contacted police.
“There were thousands of images of people showering, using the bathroom, changing in and out of clothing,” Chief Jeffrey Smith of the Amity Township Police Department told ABC News.
VanScyoc told one of his aunts that his stepfather had been sexually molesting him since he was 11.
“If I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d get very angry,” he told ABC News.
During the investigation, one of VanScyoc’s friends revealed Rutherford had sexually assaulted him during a sleepover while the friend was under the influence of alcohol. This disclosure ultimately led VanScyoc to come forward about his own years of abuse.
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While he was under investigation, Rutherford fled to Europe for several weeks but was apprehended when he returned through Dulles International Airport in Virginia. While in jail awaiting trial, he attempted to orchestrate VanScyoc’s murder through letters to a close family friend, police said.
“The person was to wait in our driveway and, when Tyler got off work, they were to kill him painlessly. And then he wanted him either buried in a forest or burned in a barrel,” Stacey Rutherford, Tyler’s mother, told ABC News.
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The case shook the family, who had thought of Rutherford as an upstanding husband and father.
“We lived the American dream and he destroyed it,” Stacey Rutherford said. The family had to leave their dream home and rebuild their lives after the revelations.
The judge issued the maximum sentence and barred him from any contact with his two young children with Stacey.
“The second they said you’ll never see your kids or talk to your kids again, his body language was different. His face drooped,” VanScyoc recalled.
Since then, VanScyoc — who is now 20 — has gotten engaged and started working toward becoming a personal trainer.
“Just because we’re men, it doesn’t mean we’re weak,” he said. “We’re still strong. It doesn’t mean we’re not a man.”
MORE: ‘Betrayal: A Father’s Secret’ documents the dark truth that shatters a family
The case highlighted the prevalence of male sexual abuse, with Edwards noting that, on average, men wait between 40 and 50 years before disclosing childhood abuse. VanScyoc spoke out at age 16, decades earlier than most male survivors.
“As a community, it is shocking for people to believe that a doctor, a stepfather, a person who we pour our trust in, could do these types of things,” Berks County Supervising Attorney Meg McCallum told ABC News.
‘Some of the most disturbing yet’: Papers react to ‘terrifying’ Epstein files
Americas
Reading time2 min
PRESS REVIEW – Friday, December 19: A new batch of Epstein files includes photos of famous men, chat screenshots and “Lolita” quotes written on a woman’s body. Next, Kristin Cabot, the HR boss caught on the Coldplay kiss cam, speaks out in an exclusive interview. Finally, we bring you some Christmas news in data format.
Papers are reacting to the latest release of a new batch of the Epstein files. Wired Magazine calls the photos “terrifying”. They include famous men, passports, chat screenshots and upsetting “Lolita” quotes written on a woman’s body. The Daily Beast puts the spotlight on a New York Times columnist, David Brooks, who appeared in the photos. In November, he wrote an opinion piece entitled “The Epstein Story? Count Me Out”. That article bashed Democrats for releasing information and the “QAnon mentality that has taken over America”. In it, Brooks criticised America’s “obsession” with the Epstein story, asking why this story needs to be a top issue. The opinion piece did not age well.
Vanity Fair has an article entitled “New Epstein Pictures, Same Old Greasy, Tired Gluttony on Display”. The magazine says the newest photos are “some of the most disturbing ones yet”, and they give us a clearer view of Epstein’s life after his 2008 sex crimes conviction. The New York Times focuses on the friendship between Trump and Epstein. The paper says the two men “bonded over the pursuit of women” and that “chasing women was a game of ego and dominance” where female bodies were a “currency”. The long article follows their “intense bond” and how it evolved over the years.
Next, Kristin Cabot, the woman caught on the Coldplay kiss cam, has given an exclusive interview to The Times. The HR manager was caught cosying up to her married boss during a Coldplay concert, and the video went viral. She speaks about the 16 seconds that “ruined her life”. Cabot says that both she and Andy Byron were at the time “amicably separated from their spouses”, and they went on a date after bonding over their separation. She was then “on top of the world”, dancing and singing, before the kiss cam caught her with Byron. The rest is social media history.
Finally, we bring you some Christmas data news. Euronews answers the question of which European country spends the most on presents. Germany is the biggest spender in the European Union, with expenses expected to reach more than €85 billion. Next is France, with €71 billion. Outside of the EU, but with more than €100 billion, the UK is really feeling the Christmas spirit!
In more data news from CNN, Mariah Carey’s seasonal hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has been dethroned by the 1984 single “Last Christmas”. Perhaps love is not in the air this season.
You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
His disturbing secret was revealed after he stole his ex’s fish
The dad says he’s a ‘changed man’ after filming up unsuspecting women’s skirts and surreptitiously recording another victim undressing
Szymon Kornet, of Ruskin Street, aged 51(Image: Merseyside Police)
A mum exposed her ex-husband’s disturbing secret after she caught him breaking into her house and stealing fish from her fridge. Szymon Kornet was identified as being the culprit when his former partner set up a CCTV camera in order to rumble a mystery intruder who had been entering her home and helping himself to her belongings.
The mother then discovered that he had saved a series of disturbing sexual images to their daughter’s iPad, having secretly recorded pictures and videos up unsuspecting women’s skirts and of another victim undressing. The dad, who now describes himself as a “changed man”, fought back tears as he was sent to prison today.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that Kornet and his ex-partner had been in a relationship for around 10 years before they separated in 2017, with the couple having a child together. On February 10 last year, she noticed that a number of items had gone missing from her home in Kirkdale.
David Watson, prosecuting, outlined how these included perfume, a bottle of whisky and fish from the fridge. Having suspected that an unknown person had broken into her house, she purchased a CCTV camera and set it up in the hallway of the property.
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This led to Kornet, of Ruskin Street in Walton, being filmed entering the address shortly after midnight on March 27. While the 51-year-old was wearing a face covering and hat at the time, his ex-partner “recognised the movements and clothing of the male and knew it to be the defendant”.
While he was not said to have taken any items on this occasion, having seemingly gained access using a key which his partner had given to their daughter, he initially denied being responsible after she confronted him at his home. However, Kornet subsequently transferred £200 into her bank account when she demanded the return of her possessions during a series of text messages.
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Two weeks later, his ex-partner realised that one of her dresses was also missing. He thereafter apologised and returned the item, but maintained that he had not taken other clothing which had disappeared.
Then, on July 25, their daughter returned home to his ex-partner’s address in possession of an iPad which she ordinarily kept at her dad’s house. It was at this stage that his ex-partner discovered a series of images on the device which showed another woman being filmed without her knowledge while undressing.
Police subsequently seized further electronic goods from Kornet following his arrest, on which officers found six “upskirting” videos of several different women. Mr Watson added of these recordings, which had apparently been captured during 2022: “It is plain that the women involved had no idea that they were being filmed in this way.”
Kornet has no previous convictions. Brian Kennedy, defending, told the court: “It is clear that he has offered his sincere apology. There are also signs of a determination to address his offending behaviour.
“He refers to himself as a changed man and has referred to having a sexual disorder. There is an indication of a degree of insight there. He has a strong work record. It is submitted that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. He has expressed a willingness to desist from offending.
“Immediate custody, it is suggested, would result in a significant harmful impact upon others, namely his daughter. He sees her twice a week. He accepts that it was negligent for her to have the iPad with that material on it, but he is very much part of her life and vice versa.”
Kornet, who was assisted by an interpreter during the hearing, admitted burglary, voyeurism and recording images beneath the clothing of another without consent. Appearing in the dock wearing a black cardigan over a white shirt and black tie, he sat with his head bowed and appeared to be on the verge of tears as he was jailed for 15 months and told to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
Sentencing, Recorder Richard Pratt KC said of the victim in the voyeurism offence: “She was shocked and disgusted when it was brought to her attention that you had behaved in that way. By transferring images onto the iPad which your daughter had possession of, it plainly gave rise to a risk that she would see things that no [child] should.”
The judge went on to label Kornet’s filming up women’s skirts as a “disgraceful act”, adding: “Of course, these women had no idea that you were doing this. It is an offence that causes very great distress, involving a serious invasion of privacy.”
Turning to the burglary, Recorder Pratt said: “There was some degree of planning. I take into account the fact that you have, at least, returned items and made a payment into her account.
“The offending took place over a number of years. I do take into account your work record and have had particular regard to your relationship with your daughter.
“It is said that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. There is strong personal mitigation, particularly your good character. I fully recognise that immediate custody is likely to result in a harmful impact on others, in particular your daughter.
“Your conduct in behaving in this way does present, in my view, a risk or danger to the public that you would continue to act in this way, particularly in respect of the upskirting offence. Ultimately, I consider the gravity of your offending and its cumulative effect can only be met by immediate custody.”
