KENTWOOD, Mich. — A southeast Michigan man admitted to using his cellphone to record video of another man sitting in a bathroom stall at Woodland Mall.
The incident happened in October of 2018 inside a public bathroom. The 21-year-old victim notified mall security after realizing he was being recorded, court records show.
Christian Meza, 26, pleaded guilty this week to surveilling an unclothed person. In exchange for his plea, a more serious charge of capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person will be dismissed.
Meza, who lists a home address in Plymouth, faces up to two years in prison when he returns to Kent County Circuit Court for sentencing in November. He is free on bond.
Capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person is punishable by up to four years in prison.
The victim was in a bathroom stall with his pants and underwear down “when he saw a cellphone held over the wall as though taking a picture,’’ Kentwood detective Darrin Cline wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
The victim contacted mall security, who located Meza based on a description provided by the victim, court records show.
Meza admitted to recording the victim, “but claimed the image was deleted,’’ Cline wrote.
A search warrant was obtained to retrieve the contents of Meza’s cellphone. “The phone was downloaded, and a short video of this incident was recovered. His genitalia were visible on the recording,’’ the detective wrote in court records.
Felony charges were authorized in January. Meza, who said he was a laid-off laborer, was released on a personal recognizance bond. A condition of bond requires that he not be on the premises of Woodland Mall.
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