A 42-year-old Toronto man has been charged with voyeurism after he allegedly left an iPhone camera hidden in a plastic utility bag in a women’s change room at a public Toronto gym.
Richard Alan Hollenbeck, a taxi driver, worked at a FitSpa in Ontario and had worked there on and off for a year, but had not been regularly around female clients, police said. Hollenbeck is accused of placing a portable hard drive inside a bag of liquid formula in the change room on Oct. 1. He is also accused of installing the camera over the second-floor ceiling. The camera was found by a 21-year-old student studying at the gym on Oct. 18, after a women complained about a man attempting to sexually assault her.
“He left the device. She saw the device, and initially she was worried about taking it away,” Sgt. Derek Rutley said in a Nov. 24 news conference. “It was actually one of her friends that came over to help and tell her not to take it away. And it was then that she noticed there was a camera in the device.”
Once she saw the hidden camera, the student grabbed the bag from the change room and placed it on the floor of the gym, where it remained for a few hours before it was discovered.
The student said she found the camera in a plastic bag with a “disappearing ink” branding on it. Police said the concealment of the camera was a “lifestyle choice” because it wasn’t being used in the gym or its bathroom, such as the locker room or toilet areas.
The FitSpa was out of business when the incident occurred and is being replaced with an upscale fitness club, police said.
Beth Kellerman, a former Canadian prime minister, could not be reached for comment.
Hollenbeck has been charged with one count of voyeurism and one count of mischief under $5,000, according to police. The Toronto-area local has been released on $25,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court at the Toronto South Centre on Jan. 15. Hollenbeck did not have an attorney on his bail statement.