ST. PETERS, Mo. — Police found more than 1,000 videos of women taken without their knowledge on a man's computer after he admitted to police he used a shoe camera to secretly record women.
Charles E. Shoults, 33, was charged with invasion of privacy after police said he was caught trying to record women in the changing room of Windsor's Fashions in Mid Rivers Mall in December.
Police said the women yelled at him and when they noticed the camera under the door, but Shoults was able to run away. In February, he was identified as a person of interest, so police went to his home to conduct an interview.
During the interview, he admitted to filming the women in the dressing room with a camera he tied under his shoelaces. They took him into custody, and at the police station, he told officers he deleted the videos from his phone but transferred them to his computer.
He gave police permission to search his computer, where they found 1,559 videos of women working or shopping in a number of different stores. Police said more than 100 videos were of women in states of undress in changing rooms, and the others were of women walking around the shops. Police said the videos were taken between Feb. 13, 2017, and Feb. 20, 2018.
Police were able to identify three more women who identified themselves in the videos and told police they did not know they were being filmed.
The shoppers we met say this case makes them want to do more to protect themselves.
"I'm going to be more aware of my surroundings,” Phyllis Hannan said.
His bond was set at $20,000, cash only.
