Man Arrested for Stealth Recording of Dressing Room With iPhone

A Hopkins man faces a charge of interfering with someone's privacy after, supposedly, using an iPhone to record video of a woman in the dressing room of the

Manuel Mesias Tigre-Brito is in Hennepin County Jail, charged with Interference with Privacy—Surreptitious Device, a gross misdemeanor. He is also on a hold in relation to his legal immigration status. 

At 11:10 a.m. on Aug. 29, police responded to a call reporting a woman being recorded in the dressing room of the Goodwill, on Hill Street. The store manager gave police a small, pink, cloth-covered box, which had clear packing tape affixed to it and a small hole cut into the upper-left-hand corner. The manager opened the box, revealing an iPhone—the camera lens of which aligned with the hole, said Sgt. Michael Glassberg, who was one of the responding officers.

Through a friend who translated her Spanish to English for investigators, the woman in the dressing room reported hearing a bang against the door of the changing room as she was trying on clothes. She looked below the gap between the door and the floor to see a shopping cart parked against the door. Taped to the bottom shelf of the cart, she saw the small, pink box with the hole cut into it. She tore it loose and opened it, discovering the iPhone in the process of recording her.

After she reported the incident to the manager, the manager announced the discovery of a lost iPhone ove the store's loudspeaker. The suspect, Tigre-Brito, came to the counter to claim the phone. The manager gave it to him but believed Tigre-Brito was then attempting to erase the recording, so the manager snatched it back and called police.

Tigre-Brito told police the iPhone was his but said he found the box in the Goodwill "near the shoes," according to the criminal complaint. Police say their subsequent search of the iPhone turned up video of a woman shopping.