MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – Brevard County deputies on Thursday booked a man accused of taking pictures and videos of people using the bathroom in the Walmart he worked for.
Qyran Emmanuel Ackerman, 21, of Cocoa, had been employed at a Walmart in Merritt Island for three months leading up to April 30, when deputies said he was caught taking a photo over the stall of someone using a urinal, according to an affidavit for his arrest.
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The person who thought they had been photographed contacted deputies, who responded to review surveillance footage at the store. On camera, Ackerman allegedly appeared to enter the men’s restroom seconds after the victim did, leaving the same way.
When he was approached and questioned by deputies, still on the job and in a blue vest, Ackerman claimed he was only lifting his phone in the stall to get better reception in order to send a message, the affidavit states.
Deputies said they obtained Ackerman’s written consent to search his phone and, inside of a ‘recently deleted’ folder, found an overhead photo of the victim using the urinal, as well as “several other overhead photographs of several different unknown children urinating inside of either restroom stalls or urinals,” the affidavit states. Due to redactions in the document, it was not specified whether the victim in the April 30 incident was also juvenile.
Now confronted by deputies, Ackerman stated he had been photographing and recording “little boys” in the store’s restrooms since he began working at the Walmart, the affidavit states. Deputies said Ackerman claimed to delete each photo and video after taking them because he “knew it was wrong.” Deputies noted that none of the photos and videos on Ackerman’s phone showed genitalia despite “attempts by Mr. Ackerman to zoom in” on such areas, the affidavit said.
Ackerman faces eight counts of video voyeurism. His bond was set at $60,000, records show.