White
A Seymour man was arrested on a warrant Thursday after he was accused of pointing a cellphone camera at a woman changing clothes in a tanning salon, police report.
Steven Mitchell White, 26, who faces a Level 6 felony charge of voyeurism, was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at 4:49 a.m. Thursday and later released on his own recognizance.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in Jackson Circuit Court, Seymour Police Department Officer Christopher McCoy was dispatched to A Total Tan, 101 W. Third St., Seymour, at 2:06 p.m. June 11 in response to a report of suspicious activity.
On arrival, McCoy said he spoke with an employee of the tanning salon and a customer who appeared visibly upset and shaking.
McCoy said the customer told him she had been getting dressed in a tanning room when she noticed someone holding a cellphone up and aiming the camera at her through an opening along the top of the wall of the adjacent tanning room.
The customer said she cried out for help after noticing the cellphone and told another woman in the hallway what had happened, according to court records.
She then told McCoy a man exited a tanning room and walked down the hallway of the salon toward the exit during the same time period.
Computer data at the salon revealed there had been a man, later identified as White, in the room next to the customer.
The salon employee told police the man was tall enough to reach the opening between the rooms.
McCoy said there is a chair in every tanning room, and White may have used one to stand on while holding his cellphone.
The customer told McCoy she didn’t know White and didn’t notice being stalked or followed by anyone.
She told police she did want to file criminal charges against the man she had seen leaving the room.
The owner arrived and told McCoy he was cancelling White’s membership and told police the opening on the top of the walls is for ventilation because the rooms get hot, and every tanning business he has visited has the same design for rooms.
At 3:10 p.m. on the same day, McCoy said he visited White’s residence to speak with him.
White admitted he was at A Total Tan that day and said he had an idea as to why McCoy was wanting to speak with him, McCoy said. White also said he had heard there was some kind of problem while he was at the salon and figured that had to do with why McCoy was asking to talk with him.
White agreed to meet at the police station, and McCoy said there was an allegation made and the situation needed to be cleared up.
McCoy asked White if he deleted anything from his cellphone, and he said no and he would bring his cellphone to the police station, according to court records.
While being interviewed by police, White was told his cellphone will be seized as possible evidence and a detective would attempt to obtain a search warrant for the phone because of the allegation.
McCoy asked White again if he had deleted anything from the cellphone and said there was a good possibility police would be able to recover anything deleted from the phone.
The cellphone was surrendered by White during the interview.
At the beginning of White’s interview, McCoy said White denied doing anything wrong but had delayed responses and had a concerned look on his face.
McCoy told White he potentially faced a charge of voyeurism but wouldn’t be arrested that day since the case report would need to be submitted to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
White admitted he used a cellphone to look into the next tanning room and said he wasn’t recording video and instead was attempting to take photos.
He said he deleted everything associated from the incident from his cellphone and wasn’t sure if anything captured on his phone showed nudity.
White also said he didn’t know who was in the tanning room next to his and this was the only time he had ever done anything like this.
According to court records, White later confessed he had done it before and never sent out anything captured on his phone to social media because it was only for personal use.
Before the end of the interview, White said he would like to turn himself in if there was a warrant issued for his arrest.
The contents of an iPhone surrendered by White had nothing of evidentiary value after a search was executed per a search warrant, according to court records.