Alpharetta police have arrested an REI employee accused of secretly recording women while they undressed in the store’s fitting room.
Grayden O’Neil, 20, was charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance after managers at the REI on North Point Parkway allegedly discovered him taking pictures of customers with his cellphone while they changed.
Susannah Beckett, a manager at the store, said she received two complaints in January from women who suspected someone might have been spying on them while they were in the fitting room. One of the women said she noticed a hand underneath her stall, and a cellphone in that hand.
Police said managers were able to identify O’Neil, a store associate, from security footage. Beckett searched through O’Neil’s iPhone and didn’t find any photos of women, but said she didn’t check his videos or sent messages.
O’Neil reportedly admitted to recording the women, and said this is not the first time he has done this. Alpharetta police Officer Jason Muenzer told Channel 2 Action News that O’Neil might have peeped on women as many as 10 times.
Beckett said O’Neil told her he is seeking counseling from a priest. He has been fired and banned from the store.
A few weeks after the incidents at REI, a similar situation was reported at a Nordstrom Rack on North Point Parkway, only a mile from the store where O’Neil had worked. It’s unclear whether he was involved in that peeping incident.
O’Neil’s bond was set at $10,000. He bailed out of Fulton County jail the day after his arrest.
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