Crime & Safety

Police: Camera Seized at Quassy Shows 'Clear Cut' Voyeurism

The 25-year-old Waterbury man arrested earlier this week was hit with an additional charge today.

A preliminary review of the images from a camera that officers seized yesterday at Quassy Amusement Park shows a "clear cut" case of voyeurism, Middlebury police said Friday.

"Police stated that there were many images of young girls 11-13 years old in bathing suits, mostly the filming of there rear ends and chest areas. There were almost no facial images of the girls. Some of these pictures and videos shows that the suspect was clearly hiding in wooded areas as not to be seen," the report states.  

In addition, according to the report, "Police stumbled upon a clear cut voyeurism on the camera where a female most likely older than 18 years old was filmed naked without her knowledge, most likely this video was taken in a bedroom."

While the 25-year-old Waterbury man was arrested at Quassy on July 3, the majority of the photographs and videos were taken at other beach areas, not at Quassy Amusement Park or in the Middlebury area, police said.

In light of this new evidence, the man, who has been identified as John Miguel Mendez Calle, was charged with voyeurism. He had already been charged with interfering with an officer, second-degree forgery, criminal impersonation and breach of peace.

Calle, who was being held on $250,000 bond, was scheduled to be arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court on July 5.

The investigation will continue, though.

"Every video and image will be examined more closely as to make sure what looks like a legitimate video doesn't contain something else on it several minutes into the video," police said. "This will take several weeks to complete." 

Naugatuck Police Detective Jay Pugliese, who is trained in digital forensics, is assisting with the investigation.

Noting how the arrest was made after an individual reportedly saw the man taking photos, Middlebury Acting Police Chief said, "This clearly is a case where someone saw something, said something, and it got to the Police Department to be handled." 


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