Update: After pleading guilty to secretly recording women undressing in a bunk and Radio Shack tanning booth, officials overturned this plea and vacated the case.
Officials say this decision was made because the defendant, Michael Timothy Ladd, did not give consent to search an external hard drive where the images of women undressing were actually found.
He only gave consent to search his personal laptop and smartphone.
The hard drive was actually inside of the laptop bag but that was not part of the consent.
Previous: Grandy, N.C. – An EMT at a local fire station in Grandy, N.C. has been arrested after allegedly hiding a camera in the fire station's women's bunk room and in a tanning booth at a Radio Shack where he previously worked.
Detectives continue to identify victims from the camera.
"I was like I've been there, I know some of my family members been there, their friends - it's very disturbing," a Currituck County woman said. She didn't want to be identified, but told NewsChannel 3 she used the tanning bed inside Radio Shack several times. She doesn't know if any videos of her were taken.
The Currituck Sheriff’s Office received a report of secret peeping at the volunteer fire station on November 20th after fire department personnel found a recording device in the women’s bunk room.
According to a search warrant, two employees found an alarm clock on the window sill in the women's bunk room. Deputies say they were told the clock was actually a camera activated by sound or movement. The warrant says Ladd admitted to deputies he put the alarm clock there.
Computer forensics were conducted on the recording device and additional images were found. Also discovered was video from a tanning booth located inside the Radio Shack located in Grandy. Detectives found video on an external hard drive of four to five women undressing, according to the search warrant.
35-year-old Timothy Allen Ladd Jr., was interviewed by investigators and told them he had worked at the Radio Shack in Grandy from 1998 until February 2012.
"I've had hundreds of people - friends, neighbors - that have tanned here. For them, I'm embarressed, I really am," said Marty Martin, Owner of Radio Shack.
70-year-old Martin says he installed the tanning bed in the store 1998 because there weren't any in the area. It is believed that neither the owner nor the employees at Radio Shack had any knowledge of Ladd’s recordings of the patrons of the tanning booth.
"I'm just blown away by it. I put a lot of effort into building my business and I know it's going to hurt drastically," said Martin.
Ladd was arrested on December 4th and charged with Secretly Using a Photographic Device to Gratify Sexual Desire, which is a felony. Ladd posted a $10,000 bond and is no longer in custody.
The Sheriff’s office is asking anyone who patronized the tanning booth located inside the RadioShack, 6322 Caratoke Hwy., Grandy, NC, between January 1998 and February 2012 to please contact Detective Ruby Stallings at 252-453-2670, at ext. 4113 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
