DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 26-year-old Georgia man was arrested after he recorded a woman changing clothes inside a store’s dressing room in Daytona Beach, police said.
According to an arrest affidavit, police responded to the Levi’s Outlet Store located in the Tanger Outlets at 1100 Cornerstone Blvd. around 10:56 a.m. on Tuesday.
The woman told police that when she entered the store, she was the only customer. She picked out some jeans and shorts and entered the first dressing room on the back left wall of the store, according to the affidavit.
She said that while trying on a pair of shorts, she looked up and into the mirror and noticed the top corner of a smartphone being held over the dressing room door.
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Once she noticed the phone, she stated that she covered herself with the dress that she wore to the store and exited the dressing room.
According to the affidavit, the victim said that once she left the dressing room, she immediately saw a man lurking in and out of the dressing room, about three doors down from hers.
The woman told police that she confronted the man, later identified as 26-year-old Luke Pinkard, and said, “Excuse me, did you just put your phone in my dressing room?” to which he replied, “No.”
When the victim told Pinkard that she saw him put the phone over her dressing room, he replied, “I’m sorry. I will delete them,” the affidavit states.
The woman said that Pinkard then pulled out his phone and deleted several video thumbnails, according to the affidavit.
Police said the woman then grabbed the phone out of Pinkard’s hand, seeing an additional, undeleted video that was about one minute and 30 seconds long. She then took the phone to the register and reported the man’s behavior, where he again said he would delete all of the videos, adding he would smash the phone. Pinkard also stated, “Please have mercy, I’m sorry,” and “Oh God,” according to the affidavit.
After officers arrived on the scene, they were able to view surveillance video that showed Pinkard, the victim and a woman later identified as Pinkard’s wife walk into the dressing room area. Police noted that Pinkard did not have any clothes from the store when he entered the dressing room area.
The video then showed the victim and Pinkard walking to the register area.
During their investigation, officers said Pinkard was visibly crying and making spontaneous statements to his wife, saying, “I’m sorry” and “We’ll get through this.”
According to the affidavit, a background check revealed Pinkard is currently facing one charge of “knowingly using/installing a device to observe, record underneath or through an individual’s clothing” and one charge of child molestation, both out of Gordon County, Georgia.
Pinkard was arrested and faces a charge of video voyeurism in the Daytona Beach incident.
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