A 27-year-old North Vancouver man has been arrested after a woman found a camera phone recording her while using a public washroom in Whistler's Carleton Lodge.
The woman entered the stall after leaving a nearby bar at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 20 and noticed the phone's illuminated screen and red light indicating the camera was recording. The phone was placed in a vent located above the toilet and had been recording for approximately three minutes, the Vancouver woman said.
Police tracked down the suspect at a Whistler hotel, where he was arrested for voyeurism and held for court.
"I'm so bothered by what happened," said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A regular weekend visitor to Whistler, the woman said the incident would not keep her from returning to the resort. "It's so creepy and traumatizing knowing that someone would go out of their way to do this. I don't know what happened in (the suspect's) life that was so bad that this is the path he chose," she added With the help of a friend, the woman was able to retrieve the phone and said she texted the suspect's family to notify them of the incident before turning the phone over to police. The woman also posted about the incident under a pseudonym on the popular Whistler Buy and Sell Facebook forum to alert the community. "Women should be aware of their surroundings and look for things that don't seem right and report them," she said, adding she is now planning to take a self-defence course. "I don't feel safe," she said, adding she didn't know when she found the phone if the person responsible was still in the washroom. The suspect was seen in security footage attempting to place the phone in the ceiling fixture for more than 30 minutes, occasionally running to and from the men's and women'saccording to the woman, who said she viewed the tape.
Whistler RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair called it "an isolated incident," and asked the public to stay vigilant. "This is a one-off, very unusual event, but people are reminded to exercise normal caution and be aware of their surroundings," he said. "This is ... not a common occurrence in any establishment." Jonathan Stringer of North Vancouver has been charged with voyeurism. He is scheduled to appear in North Vancouver provincial court July 30.
- with files from Pique Newsmagazine.
