Man admits installing cameras in locker room

A Bucks County man faces several years of court supervision after admitting trying to invade the privacy of women.

“But that doesn’t take away from the violation that these women felt when they found this.”

- Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Alexandria MacMaster

NORRISTOWN >> A Bucks County man faces several years of court supervision after he admitted to trying to invade the privacy of women at the Plymouth kickboxing academy where he was a member, by placing a hidden camera in a locker room.

Nicholas Walker Manella, 28, of the unit block of Saint Andrews Court, New Hope, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of attempted invasion of privacy and harassment in connection with an April 2019 incident at Hart Jiu Jitsu Kickboxing and Martial Arts Academy in Plymouth.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Manella to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and to comply with all recommendations for treatment. The judge further ordered Manella to stay away from the academy located in the 1000 block of Colwell Lane and to have no contact with the owner or employees of the business.

“Luckily, for the community that was part of this gym, law enforcement and the people at the gym were able to find this device that was set up by the defendant and remove it … before anyone was seen in partial or in full nudity,” said Assistant District Attorney Alexandria MacMaster. “But that doesn’t take away from the violation that these women felt when they found this.”

Manella, formerly of Philadelphia, also faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

MacMaster explained the victims are pleased that Manella will have to register as a sex offender, “given the predatory nature of this” and the breach of trust.

Court documents indicate prosecutors previously denied Manella’s request to be admitted to the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for firsttime offenders, a program that allows an offender to clear their records after completing a period of probation. As a result, Manella, who was represented by defense lawyer Stephen Geday, will have a criminal record.

An investigation began on April 1 when Plymouth police responded to the kickboxing academy for a report of suspicious activity, specifically that employees “reported that they found a camera in the women’s changing room,” according to the criminal complaint.

Two women told police that they went into the women’s locker room and noticed what appeared to be a camera in the corner of the room, according to the arrest affidavit. The women informed a trainer and the business owner and police were notified.

“Both women inspected the object and believed it to be a camera,” Plymouth Detective Andrew Moretti alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding one of the women placed the camera into her gym bag to block the lens from filming.

One of the women told police that while employees were waiting for the owner to arrive, Manella, a member of the club, approached her and asked to speak with her privately, court documents indicate. The woman claimed Manella appeared “very stressed” and uttered, “I know you found it,” according to the criminal complaint.

“Manella told (the woman) ‘I didn’t mean to. I was just really (expletive) up this morning,’” Moretti wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the woman relayed that Manella begged her to return the device to him or at least give him the memory card. “(The woman) told Manella that it was out of her hands and the police were called.”

The administrator of the business told police that Manella “has been a member for a little over two years and does not have permission to place a camera in the women’s changing room,” according to the arrest affidavit. The administrator of the business said the gym does not have any cameras inside the changing room.

Moretti alleged such “hidden cameras” have been known to be used for illegal activities such as covertly recording persons or activities without the knowledge of the intended person or target.

Based on Manella’s personal admission to the victim, Moretti concluded Manella placed the camera in the women’s changing room, “a designated area which women feel to be a private area to change their clothing and be in different states of undress.” Moretti alleged Manella did so for no legitimate purpose, but for sexual gratification.