Michigan State Police’s Computer Crimes Unit is always looking for unusual and illegal activity. The Genesee County Prosecutor said they caught the Grand Blanc Township man who had been recording his coworkers in the employee bathroom for two years.
“A search warrant was issued and laptop computers and smartphones were seized and they were downloaded,” Prosecutor David Leyton said.
He explained the now-20-year-old man’s devices revealed recordings from 2016 to 2018. The time period, Leyton said, the man worked at the Tim Horton’s on Silver Lake Road in Downtown Fenton.
“The investigation revealed that this individual had placed the cameras in the bathrooms and he had recorded store employees at private moments,” he said.
Leyton said both state and federal investigators have identified 4 employees in the recordings, two of them are minors.
“They did not know until they were asked by the police for an interview, shown the graphics, shown the recordings and identified themselves and helped police identify some of the other victims,” he explained.
He added investigators are working now to identify a few more.
“A. Folks oughta have the right to privacy in a bathroom. B. I don’t know why anyone would want to do this in the first place,” he said.
Because Leyton explained the man also possessed the material and passed it on, he’s charged with 16 felony counts, including 2 counts of child sexually abusive activity, 8 counts of using a computer to commit a crime, 2 counts of possession of child sexually abusive mater and 4 counts of capturing/distributing images of an unclothed person.
The man is expected to be formally charged on later this week.
Leyton said it’s believed he also set up cameras in people’s homes. They’re working to identify those victims now, too.
