A public restroom is the place where you want to feel the most private. However, it turns out with advances in technology that have led to tiny cameras…perverts are able to spy on unsuspecting victims everywhere. Yes, even in bathrooms. Inside E
Inside Edition has found creeps, all over the country, catching themselves by accident on their own hidden cameras, which they concealed inside public bathrooms.
Courtney Mitchell was shocked when she found one of those cameras at her favorite coffee place in Providence, Rhode Island. When she walked into the bathroom, the camera, hidden in a black box, fell to the floor.
Mitchell told INSIDE EDITION, “It was placed very strategically so you could see absolutely everything. Girls and guys and little girls were walking in and pulling their pants down to go to the bathroom.”
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Courtney turned the camera over to police and when they played the tape, the restaurant manager, Tony Roberts, could be seen placing the camera under the bathroom sink. He was fired and pled guilty to voyeurism.
INSIDE EDITION has found dozens of cases of men positioning hidden cameras inside public bathrooms, often using spy technology.
The co-workers of a 46-year-old accountant from Wisconsin suspected something amiss when they sometimes saw a strange object appearing under the bathroom door.
So police set up a sting with a hidden camera of their own and caught the pervert rushing over to the bathroom as soon as a female co-worker shut the restroom door. He can be seen crouching down and placing a pen with a camera inside into the small crack between the door and the floor, secretly taping the woman inside,
James Pirc was busted and served a year in jail.
In another case, a 60-year-old executive, Richard Ipsen, who used to be a highly regarded real estate agent in Sherwood, Oregon, outside Portland, was also a voyeur. One of his favorite hangouts was the local Starbucks.
It turns out, he had placed a hidden camera inside, of all things, an AC adapter, which he plugged into the wall socket. He was caught on his own camera setting up the device.
Fortunately, a Starbucks employee realized the adapter had been placed there by a customer. Ipsen’s image was released to the public and he was quickly identified.
Last month, he was sentenced to a year in jail for invasion of privacy.
Prosecutor Zoey Smith talked to INSIDE EDITION’s Jim Moret about Ipsen’s horrified victims. “They were humiliated, mortified to a degree I’ve never seen in my eight years,” said Smith.
Security expert Steve Kardian showed INSIDE EDITION’s Lisa Guerrro how easy it is to disguise cameras. Many of these devices can be found at stores that specialize in security and surveillance equipment like Spytec in New York City who let us sample some of their spy cameras.
In a demonstration, Kardian surprised Guerrero with hidden cameras he placed in a bathroom. “If you turn around and look behind you, you could see two cameras that could be videotaping you at this very moment. There is a coat rack and if you look right there, there is a camera.”
“That's a camera? You could barely see it, Guerrero replied. “There is no way that somebody would know that that's a camera in a coat rack.”
Another device looked like an outlet but was really a camera.
He pointed out the camera to Guerrero, “If you look closely, right there, you'll see that's a camera.”
“I use hidden cameras,” said Guerrero, “and there is no way I would know that is a hidden camera.”
As for Courtney Mitchell, she's often looking over her shoulder, wondering whether somebody is watching her. “Every time I go into a bathroom now, I can't help but look under the sink, you never know if your privacy is being invaded.”
