Traverse City Record-Eagle

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January 25, 2013

Deputies: Man took pictures under bathroom stalls

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — An Interlochen man took pictures of others as they used restrooms in the Grand Traverse Mall, authorities believe.

Joshua Daniel Crow, 26, is charged with a felony count of surveilling an unclothed person. He hadn't been arrested Friday.

Grand Traverse sheriff's deputies went to the mall on Jan. 3 after someone complained to mall security. A man was inside a stall in the bathroom when he saw a hand with a cellphone reach under from a neighboring stall.

"A picture was snapped and the hand retreated," court documents said.

The victim saw Crow as Crow quickly left the bathroom, deputies said. Mall security tracked down Crow and called the sheriff's department. Crow cooperated with a deputy who spoke with him, and had a simple explanation when asked why he did what he did.

"I was horny," he said, according to a police report.

Crow gave deputies his phone and allowed them to search it. Deputies saw "at least five more pictures of different individuals' feet and upper ankles," according to the report.

Such incidents are relatively rare in the Grand Traverse region, though not unheard of. People take great strides to protect their privacy, Grand Traverse Undersheriff Nate Alger said, and it's unfortunate when people decide to invade the most private of places.

"To have this kind of thing happen, it sort of whittles away at their underlying comfort that we live in a good and decent place," he said.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and would require registry as a sex offender.

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