At least 80 women were captured on film in various states of undress at two YMCA’s outside of Charlotte by a former janitor attempting to moonlight as an amateur filmmaker. Fifty-eight-year-old John Eddy was arrested after police found one camera in the locker room at the YMCA in Lake Wylie.
While investigating possible sex crimes related to the single camera, investigators discovered additional images and footage on Eddy’s home computer that led them to a second camera at a Fort Mill YMCA. Eddy now faces as many as 80 counts of voyeurism. Each count, if he is convicted, carries a maximum three-year-sentence, meaning that Eddy could spend the rest of his life in prison on sex crimes if convicted in the YMCA locker room video scandal.
Both YMCAs are located just across the border in South Carolina. Eddy will be prosecuted for violating South Carolina’s prohibition against voyeurism and peeping.
In North Carolina, the similar charge could be secret peeping or a more serious sex offense, which would likely depend on the content of the actual video footage captured by the two cameras, including the ages of any women caught on tape.
Secret peeping is a Class I felony in North Carolina if, as in this instance, a video camera or other recording device was used to capture images of the unsuspecting and unconsenting subjects.
According to news reports, the women in Eddy’s videos have not been identified.
Source: WSOCTV, “Police: Man accused of 80 counts of filming women at local YMCAs,” June 22, 2013