Suspect charged after cameras found in women’s washroom

After two cameras were found in a Tim Hortons women’s bathroom, Regina police are asking potential victims to contact them.

On Jan. 20, the Regina Police Service received a report of a camera having been found by a customer in the women’s washroom at the Tim Hortons location at 5855 Rochdale Blvd. Police said the camera was placed so it could record people using the toilet. Police described the camera as being in an area used by both staff and members of the public, and said it was hidden so it wouldn’t be easily discovered by staff when cleaning.

Police seized the camera and a power pack, then began an investigation with the tech crimes unit of the city police. According to police, it appears the camera was only in the bathroom during that one business day.

Then, on Feb. 3, police received a report of a second camera found at the same location.

“They discovered the camera right away, because staff noted that (a man) went into the washroom,” RPS spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said.

Restaurant management provided police with security footage that helped to identify a suspect. A 42-year-old Regina man, Aaron Alwood Wheeler, is facing two charges of voyeurism. He was released and ordered to make his first court appearance on March 18.

Police pointed out Wheeler has no connection to the Tim Hortons as either an owner or employee. Popowich said there’s no evidence the photos taken were shared with anyone else or even transmitted to a computer from the camera.

The investigation isn’t over, largely because police — having identified some of the females recorded — are still seeking to identify and contact the others. Police said the 17 females captured in the images range in age from youths to seniors.

Popowich said police are asking potential victims — those who used the bathroom on the January date — to contact the vice unit by email at isdviceunit@reginapolice.ca.

“We’re asking that they include a name, date of birth and some contact information — a phone number or an address — and just a selfie if possible,” she said, adding the vice unit would then contact the complainants.

Given the restaurant is located near two high schools, the city police’s school resource section is also involved in the investigation. Spokespeople for both the public and Catholic school boards said nothing is being done differently at the schools as a result of the bathroom find.

This is far from the first time cameras have been found in Saskatchewan

washrooms. In 2015, the owner of a Carnduff business was found to have a camera in the bathroom. Also in 2015, a Regina man was sentenced for voyeurism after installing a two-way mirror and a camera to record his teenaged step-granddaughter. Regina also had a case in 2004 of a man caught peeping in a Regina movie theatre women’s bathroom.

In 2014, a Tim Hortons on Park Street was the subject of a voyeurism incident when a then-employee placed a device under the sink to record the toilet. A customer found the device and police found recordings of three women using the toilet.

In sentencing that man, Judge Bruce Henning called the offence a “serious invasion of (the women’s) privacy.”