Camano man faces voyeurism charges

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 14, 2006

A Camano Island man was charged Thursday with felony voyeurism after a spy camera was found Sept. 1 in the bathroom of the Everett backpack company where he worked.

Matthew Allan Turner, 26, told police he had installed the tiny camera, purchased already hidden in an air freshener, so he could watch women using the bathroom at the JanSport warehouse where he worked, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Diane Nipert said in Superior Court papers.

The camera was discovered by one of Turner’s co-workers who became suspicious of his behavior on and off the job. The camera’s discovery was reported to company officials, who alerted police.

Investigation showed Turner had previously shown a tiny camera to other employees and had also hooked a computer monitor up to an extension cord near the bathrooms, Nipert said.

Confronted by police, Turner allegedly admitted that he placed the air freshener and spy camera in the women’s bathroom and had used it to watch women “many times,” the prosecutor wrote.

The defendant said he would watch for certain women entering the bathroom and watch them on the monitor, according to court papers.

When detectives searched Turner’s laptop computer they found no images stored on the hard drive, Nipert said.