Charges: Man took videos up the skirts of 144 girls, women at high school graduations on U campus

A Duluth man with a criminal history of illegally taking photos and videos up the skirts of unsuspecting women and girls stands charged with striking again at high school graduation ceremonies at the University of Minnesota last year.

Benjamin Thomas Goldsmith, 32, was charged this week in Hennepin County District Court with child pornography and invasion of privacy after his arrest in June 2024 outside Mariucci Arena on the U campus. There were several high school graduations going on at the time and police allegedly found a cellphone, digital camera and SD cards on Goldsmith that contained video clips taken underneath the skirts of 144 different women or girls at the ceremonies. Police then went to Goldsmith’s car and found an external hard drive that contained 151 images or videos of child sexual abuse material involving victims as young as 2 years old.

According to the charges, a witness reported that someone was acting strangely and carrying something bulky under a hooded sweatshirt. He would get “uncomfortably close” behind women and girls and touch something in his pocket. He approached the entrance to Mariucci several times, but when he got close to the metal detectors, he would turn away. The witness became concerned he had a gun. Police approached the man and asked where he was from. He said Duluth. Police asked whom he was there to see graduate, and Goldsmith couldn’t name anyone.

When police examined his hooded sweatshirt, they found a small hole cut into the fabric and a camera lens poking out.

Goldsmith is charged with three counts of felony possession of child pornography and three counts of invasion of privacy. He is not in custody, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

He already has two outstanding criminal cases in connection with taking photos up the skirts of women and girls in the Twin Cities in 2024.

In Ramsey County, he has been charged with 11 counts of invasion of privacy over taking photos up the skirts of teenagers at the Roseville High School graduation one day before he was arrested outside Mariucci Arena. He was charged in that crime in July of last year.

Goldsmith posted $6,000 bail in the Hennepin County case. He was released on his own recognizance in the Ramsey County case in March.

The Star Tribune reported in 2018 that Goldsmith was charged with 30 counts of interfering with privacy over recording up the skirts of 65 women and girls at the Mall of America.

Goldsmith was allegedly at the mall for five hours recording unsuspecting women before he was caught by security officers. Witnesses had reported that Goldsmith walked by a woman wearing a skirt near the Disney store four times with camera in hand. Mall surveillance video corroborated the witnesses’ accounts.

Bloomington police found a small, white Sony camera, a Muscle Milk container used to conceal the camera, batteries and a smartphone when they arrested him. A search of Goldsmith’s camera and phone turned up a memory card containing 77 videos of the victims. Goldsmith’s face was also shown in most of the videos, the charges said.

That criminal charge and outcome of the case is not on Goldsmith’s public criminal record, which means it could have been expunged, although court officials cannot confirm that since the record would be sealed.