Convicted Peeper Sues Cops for Return of Porn Stash

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — A man recently released from jail after being convicted of secretly videotaping a woman and a teenage girl has sued a Marin County police department for the return of a massive porn collection taken during the investigation.

Dennis Saunders, 59, filed suit against San Rafael police in Marin County Superior Court after the department refused to give back some 500 pornographic movies and 250 magazines his lawyer described as unrelated to the peeping case.

"There's absolutely no legal foundation for them withholding perfectly legal adult-oriented material," Tiburon attorney Jon Rankin said.

The video collection alone was likely worth at least $10,000, Rankin said.

Saunders, of Healdsburg, was arrested in 2002 and charged with taping the women in their homes at a San Rafael apartment complex where he worked. He was released last month.

A lawyer representing the city said authorities wanted direction from a judge on whether it would be "lawful or appropriate" to return the material to Saunders, who has a history of peeping-related arrests dating back to 1979,

"If the court orders us to give it back to him, we will give it back to him," city lawyer Thomas Bertrand said.