An investigation into voyeurism is underway after RCMP arrested an employee at the 100 Mile House ambulance station on March 29.
A hidden camera was left in the washroom of a local gym.
The male suspect, who cannot be named because of a publication ban, has appeared before a Judicial Justice of the Peace (JJP).
It seems a discovery made by Action Fitness proprietors Murray Helmer and Donri Heise led to the arrest.
While cleaning a washroom on Saturday afternoon (March 29), Helmer found a suspicious device on the floor that resembled a pen.
When they separated the device, “it turned out to have a [storage device] on one end and a video camera on the other end,” Helmer says.
“We plugged in to see if it belonged to somebody. As soon as we saw that it was filming our washroom, we stopped it and handed it over [to police].”
An RCMP member was exercising there at the time, and the gym owners passed the device over to him.
“Another investigating officer came. We shared our card lock information and our video surveillance. We were informed that an arrest had been made shortly thereafter.”
In a statement, the RCMP says “given the investigation remains ongoing and a publication ban has been in place by the JJP, we are not able to provide any further comment at this time.”
The BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) could not confirm a hidden camera was also found in the women’s washroom at the ambulance station, but says in a statement the employee was not on duty when he was arrested and he is not the unit chief.
“BCAS is assisting the RCMP with its work and is holding the employee out of service while the police investigation is underway.”
The gym owners alerted members on Facebook to the incident, Helmer says.
“We felt an obligation to advise them that perhaps their privacy has been breached. The RCMP has told us there has been no documented activity whatsoever. The only person that was found on [the recording] was Donri changing the garbage can.”
Helmer says according to security key records the suspected entered the gym four times between 4:30 p.m. on March 28 and 11:30 a.m. on March 29.
He adds the gym membership belonging to the individual was purchased on March 13.