ST. LOUIS — What may look like an ordinary box of Kleenex, a fire alarm, a phone charger, pen or key fob may actually be the perfect hiding place for a hidden camera, according to private investigators.
“What happens is that they videotape you in some compromising positions, and then you end up on the Internet, and once you get on the Internet, it's impossible to get off the Internet,” Michael Barbieri of Global Intelligence Consultants said. “Child pedophiles are always looking for children that are undressing.”
The company sweeps bathrooms and dressing rooms in large department stores as well as private residences, law firms and other places for hidden devices.
“Sometimes, stores don’t even know because sometimes a woman will walk into the dressing room, and she's really a plant,” Barbieri said. “So she's in there, while you think she's trying on dresses, she's actually putting up hidden cameras.”
Just within the past six months, three high-profile cases involving hidden cameras have made headlines.
One involved a Boy Scout volunteer who admitted in January that he planted a camera in a paper towel dispenser and pointed it at the showers at the S Bar F Scout Ranch in July 2021 while he was there as a volunteer.
A St. Charles County man was sentenced this year to 17 years in federal prison for hiding cameras in bathrooms to sell images of underage girls to fellow pedophiles.
A different St. Charles County man was charged in March after police say he set up cameras inside bathrooms at Target stores, bars, restaurants, youth sports complexes, public pools and vacation homes.
He said Kleenex boxes that appear to have been taped shut on one of the sides is a giveaway for a box someone has used to hide a camera.
“If it's been resealed, that's a red flag,” Sedano said, showing the I-Team a tissue box he unsealed on the side and taped shut to slip a hidden camera inside.
And when you’re in a bathroom, he said, “Look up.”
“You're expecting privacy, and it doesn't really exist when you're in there,” he said. “So look around.
“Normally, the rule is to look up because most people don't look up. But if you look up, typically at the top, tucked away in corners, that's where you'll find them.”
And he said, "Look down."
“It's always a good idea to look, you never know, but lean in and look underneath the toilet rim,” he said.
As for hotel rooms and Airbnbs?
“Our theoretical bad guy has had all the time in the world,” Sedano said.
More elaborate setups can happen when predators have time to plan them.
“The USB charging devices are an old favorite,” Sedano said. “That doesn't take much time and people think you're just being nice and leaving a way for you to recharge your phone.”
And some cameras broadcast live images.
“They don't even come back and retrieve it to get the video off of it, they can be monitoring it right now,” he said.
The most unusual place Sedano said he’s found a hidden camera was inside a shower head.
Barbieri and Sedano said people can also use their own cell phones to find some hidden cameras without having to spend thousands of dollars on sophisticated sweeping devices they use.
Turning off the lights in a room and using the camera app on a cell phone to look around in the dark can help spot some hidden cameras. Those that have night vision will glow on a cellphone camera screen if they’re there.
“Being aware of your surroundings is so important,” Barbieri said. “When you walk into any room, if you're walking into the ladies restroom, start looking around because the probability of something being in there is not unusual.
“It may be probable.”
And he said, remember to check those Kleenex boxes.
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