A man who identifies as transgender was arrested Tuesday under the felony of voyeurism for taking photos and videos of a woman while she was dressing in a fitting room in Target in Ammon, Idaho.
On Monday afternoon, Sean Patrick Smith, 43, also known as Shauna Patricia Smith, was accused by an 18-year-old girl, identified only as M.R., of video recording or taking photographs of her with an iPhone from the continuous stall while she was trying on swimwear.
The victim’s mother confronted Smith and chased her through the store. According to the affidavit of probable causes, obtained by East Idaho News, a witness saw how he fled the retail store, got in a car and left the place.
The victim and her mother identified Smith as a white male who was wearing women’s clothing and a blond wig. That way she got into the women’s fitting room.
The suspect was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail
Bonneville County located the vehicle the suspect left on and found out it was registered to Smith. On Tuesday, an investigator contacted Smith’s roommate. After showing her surveillance pictures, she identified Smith’s clothing and explained Sean was in fact transgender and identified herself as Shauna, according to the official document.
Later, the investigator located Smith and interviewed her. After a while, she admitted that she videotaped the alleged victim and that she had previously made videos of women undressing. She told the detective she does this since she finds the videos “sexually gratifying.”
Then, the detective unlocked Smith’s iPhone and looked through her camera roll, and found a video of a young woman undressing in a changing room, apparently from Target. Smith admitted the video was recorded at the store.
Bonneville County Sgt. Bryan Lovell told East Idaho News that Smith was taken into custody and enlisted into the Bonneville County Jail as a male. Smith is expected in court Wednesday and faces up to five years in jail if found guilty.
He also stated that detectives are investigating to see if there are any other possible victims.
Target announced in April a policy where they support the LGBTQ community and encourages and supports transgender people to use the bathroom or changing room that corresponds with their gender identity. The controversial policy was heavily criticized.
Source: East Idaho News