Man hid cellphone in women’s bathroom
“This was a case where the defendant took a really substantial step to try to invade someone’s privacy and that’s a very serious thing to do.” _ Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel alleged
NORRISTOWN >> A Whitemarsh Township man who used his cellphone as an instrument of crime, hoping to videotape women in the bathroom of a Lower Merion country club, has a stint in jail and some counseling in his future.
Michael Pierce McKenna, 34, of the 500 block of Ridge Pike, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven days to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of possession of an instrument of crime and harassment in connection with the Feb. 18, 2017, incident at the Philadelphia Country Club in Lower Merion.
Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered McKenna to complete one year of probation following parole, meaning McKenna will be under court supervision for about three years.
McKenna, who was represented by defense lawyer Cary B. McClain, also must continue with a counseling program, the judge said.
“The defendant admitted that he was in possession of an instrument of crime and that instrument was a phone that he was planning on using to record someone without their consent,” said Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel, explaining the nature of McKenna’s admission.
Marvel said a jail sentence was warranted.
“This was a case where the defendant took a really substantial step to try to invade someone’s privacy and that’s a very serious thing to do,” Marvel said. “Some jail time was appropriate to show him that this is a serious offense and that it absolutely will not be tolerated.”
McKenna originally was charged with invasion of privacy but McClain said prosecutors and the defense reached a compromise, amending the charges to possession of an instrument of crime and harassment.
McClain argued there was no evidence that McKenna recorded anything or that the cellphone camera was operational in the bathroom. McClain said a psychosexual evaluation also determined McKenna is not a threat.
“There is no threat of recidivism. This was something that was an anomaly, that would not happen again,” McClain said. “The reason was due to stress. It was a reaction to stress and people do things that they wouldn’t normally do. That’s what this was.”
An investigation began when Lower Merion police responded to the country club on Spring Mill Road for a report that a female employee at the club discovered a cellphone hidden above a stall in the women’s bathroom, according to the criminal complaint.
The woman told police that she noticed footprints on a toilet seat and “she then looked toward the ceiling and noticed an object wedged between the drop down ceiling and its frame,” Lower Merion Detective Brian Layton alleged in the arrest affidavit.
“The female employee immediately recognized the object as a cellphone because of the front screen side facing down toward the toilet,” Layton alleged. “The female eventually reached up toward the ceiling to retrieve the cellphone so that she could see if it was recording.”
The woman could not activate the phone screen because it was access code protected and she then turned the phone over to the management team at the country club, according to court papers. Managers determined the phone belonged to McKenna, who at the time was an employee of the country club, detectives said.
When McKenna was interviewed by detectives he admitted to entering the women’s bathroom after he found the employee men’s bathroom was locked.
“While in the employee women’s restroom, McKenna had a thought to put his phone in the ceiling,” Layton alleged, adding McKenna explained he stood on a toilet seat and placed the phone in the ceiling. “McKenna advised me that he placed the phone in the ceiling hoping the phone would record females using the restroom.”
The judge ordered McKenna to have no contact with the victim as a condition of the sentence.