LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — A man in Denver was arrested after a home healthcare worker found a hidden camera in a bathroom and led law enforcement to unravel a pattern of disturbing behavior.
Channel 9’s Ken Lemon spoke with investigators who say the discovery may be just the beginning.
It happened in a quiet Denver community with a scenic view of Lake Norman, but investigators say Jonathan Malmberg was trying to capture images not meant for public consumption.
“A camera in the bathroom pointing directly at the toilet, that’s an issue,” said Sgt. Justin Link with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Link says last week, a woman providing home healthcare to someone at Malmberg’s home noticed something out of place.
“Took a photo of that thing, sent it to us -- we knew immediately it was a lens, a very small lens,” Link said.
Link said it was the size of a pencil eraser hidden in the bathroom and linked to a storage device hidden under the sink.
It wasn’t for security, it was for gratification.
“People are being victimized and they don’t know and the shame they feel after finding out,” Link said.
Malmberg was charged with five counts of secret peeping. Link said they seized several electronic storage devices and recording devices at the home. They are analyzing all of them.
“From what we have seen, we are probably at the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately,” Link said.
Channel 9 learned that other workers have also used that bathroom.
Skip Graham with Spy Tech in Belmont says these devices “can hide just about anywhere.”
Graham says companies hire him to scan rooms and find cameras like this. He said the cameras are designed to be hard to find.
“Is there any hope at all of finding this and being safe?” Lemon asked him.
“There is, based on this story that we are doing right now. You can use your cell phone to look closely at objects or small pinholes,” Graham said.
Investigators say if you are unsure about what you see, do what the woman in this case did: send them a picture and they’ll find the person who placed it there.
“You will get caught,” Link said.
Graham said people shouldn’t waste their time checking hallways or public areas. He said cameras are usually hidden where there is an expectation of privacy.
9 Investigates dug into ways to spot hidden cameras, including looking for red blinking lights. Many cameras also have an associated app that goes with them, and you can usually see their signal under your phone’s WiFi settings or using an app that detects WiFi signals.
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