Man charged with recording women in bathroom
Hidden video camera was used at an undisclosed house
A Ferndale man faces multiple felonies after police say he secretly recorded video of women in a bathroom at an undisclosed house in the city with a hidden camera.
Tyler Tierney, 29, was arraigned in Ferndale 43rd District Court on Monday on five counts of surveilling an unclothed person. Each count represents a different woman that police said Tyler made a recording of in a bathroom.
“We are trying to be respectful of the victims,” Ferndale Officer Jill Mahlmeister said when asked about additional information on the circumstances involving the charges against Tierney. “It hap
pened at a residence and one of the victims came across one of the recordings” in July.
A Ferndale undercover police detective testified in a recorded swear-to hearing before Ferndale Magistrate J. Patrick Brennan on Oct. 23 that all the women “were recorded unclothed from the waist down.”
The Daily Tribune listened to the recording after Tierney’s arraignment Monday. Police requested the detective not be named.
The women in the case “said they did not know the video was in the (bathroom) and felt violated,” the detective testified. Police interviewed Tierney and he eventual ly confessed he set up a video camera to record the women, the detective said in the swear-to hearing. Police got a warrant and seized the suspect’s cell phone and computer and retrieved images from the electronic devices. The warrant also covered the suspect’s Gmail account.
Tierney saved recordings he made of the five women in the bathroom but did not distribute them, Mahlmeister said in a statement.
All of the women have been interviewed by police, she said.
Ferndale police arrested the suspect Monday before his arraignment.
He was released on personal bond and is scheduled to appear by remote video in Ferndale District Court for a probable cause conference at 1 p.m. Nov. 23 before Judge Joseph Longo.
Unless Tierney waives his right to a preliminary examination in Ferndale court, that hearing will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 30.
Tierney has retained attorney Kimberly Stout, who did not immediately return a call to her office for comment on the case.
Each of the five counts against the suspect is punishable by up to five years in prison.