‘Mayberry’s Photographer’ Was Loved for His Photos of Small-Town Life — Then He Was Accused of Peeping

A beloved local retiree known as “Mayberry’s photographer” to residents of Mount Airy, North Carolina — the birthplace of TV legend Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the town of Mayberry in his 1960s sitcom of the same name — are facing criminal charges on charges of taking inappropriate photographs of unwitting passersby.

William Robert Curlee, who goes by “Robbie,” was reported to police Monday by an unknown woman who said she caught Curlee using a hidden camera phone to secretly take upskirt photos of her underwear, according to Mount Police Chief Dale Watson Airy.

Curlee, 65, had been taking photos in Mount Airy’s central business district on North Main Street that day when the unidentified victim “became aware of activity that was occurring,” Watson said. told The Mount Airy News. The phone in question was “in or near (Curlee’s) camera bag” and was pointed upward, according to Watson. He was arrested at home early Tuesday morning on a misdemeanor charge of secret peeping and was released later that afternoon on a $10,000 bond.

On Friday, Curlee’s wife answered the phone at the couple’s home, politely declining to make her husband available for an interview.

“He’s not here right now, but I don’t think he wants to talk to you anyway,” Suzanne Curlee said. The independentadmitting that Curlee’s arrest was “difficult” to deal with, especially since she has a brother in the area of ​​the state hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.

Watson said more women are expected to come forward with their own allegations against Curlee, whose subjects were “unaware” of the shutterbug’s inappropriate objectives. Police executed a search warrant at Curlee’s home and seized an unknown number of additional images as evidence, according to Watson.

So far, Curlee has had a perfectly clean criminal record, aside from a single speeding ticket in 2013 in South Carolina, public records show. Secret peeping is classified as a crime if the perpetrator is merely watching; It becomes a crime if someone “secretly or covertly uses a device to create a photographic image of another person under or through the clothing worn by that other person, for the purpose of destroying the body of, or the undergarments worn by, that other person is worn, to be viewed without their permission.”

Curlee’s latest public photos, posted on Facebook the day before he took the allegedly criminal photos, showing vivid street scenes of happy and fully clothed Mount Airians.

“Lots of good food and really nice people at the Mayberry Food Truck Fest in downtown Mount Airy!” Curlee wrote underneath.

On the day of Curlee’s arrest, a local resident tagged him along with a series of innocent photos she posted on Facebook, writing: ‘Another post from “Colonel Tim’s Talent Time” with some fun photos of Robbie Curlee! Thanks Robbie for always taking great photos!”

After Curlee’s arrest, the tone seems to have changed considerably. Taking to social media, outraged women in Mount Airy are organizing a trip to “pack the courtroom” when Curlee appears in court on Oct. 21.

“I unequivocally condemn the heinous acts committed by a once trusted volunteer,” one woman wrote online. “I too have been violated. My photo has been taken. Almost all my friends had their pictures taken by Robbie. Holding our children. Innocent smiles at events.”

Curlee, who had no professional background in photography, moved to Mount Airy in 2018 after a career as an assistant city engineer in Columbia, South Carolina, according to The Mount Airy News. He was seen at every event in the city, taking pictures of shows, festivals and parades, as well as ordinary everyday life, for which an adoring audience dubbed him ‘Mayberry’s photographer’. In 2023, Curlee received Mount Airy’s first-ever AGORA Award for community contributions “going above and beyond,” and was given a key to the city and named a “North Carolina Main Street Champion.”

“I just love the small-town atmosphere,” Curlee says told local CBS affiliate WNCT in April. “There’s always something happening here.”

Watson, the police chief, called the allegations against Curlee “disheartening” and telling The Mount Airy News that Curlee is essentially “Mr. Put on Airy.”

“Some things you just don’t expect,” he said.