Calgary police have arrested a man in connection with now suspended “CanadaCreep” Twitter account that posted secretly recorded images of women’s bodies over the past year, saying he faces six voyeurism-related charges.
The 42-year-old man was arrested Tuesday, Calgary police said in a release issued early Wednesday afternoon.
Calgary police say the man is facing several voyeurism-related charges in relation to three incidents, adding that more charges may be laid.
The charges had not yet been officially sworn against him at that time, but police said it would happen later in the day, at which point the suspect can be named.
‘Multiple electronic devices seized,’ police say.
CBC News has learned he’s facing six charges in total at this time, three for voyeurism and three charges of publishing voyeuristic material.
“Multiple electronic devices were seized” when the man was taken into custody, according to police.
“A search warrant was executed on a residence in the community of Prestwick that resulted in an additional seizure of computers, storage devices and other electronics,” police said in the release.
Prestwick is located in McKenzie Towne in the city’s southeast.
Videos filmed up skirts among hundreds of videos, images tweeted
As CBC News reported Tuesday, the “CanadaCreep Twitter account had amassed 17,000 followers over the course of several months prior to being shut down by the social media service that day.
Hundreds of videos and images posted on Twitter show surreptitiously recorded images of Calgary women’s clothed breasts, buttocks and genital areas — including videos filmed up women’s skirts while they walked.
Many of the images were captured on the streets of downtown Calgary, others in and around Prince’s Island Park.
Some were clearly recorded at a C-Train station or in the city’s Plus-15 network of elevated walkways.
There were also numerous videos in which the camera operator follows women wearing dresses or skirts from behind until the women walk up stairs or there is another opportunity to put the camera low to the ground and point it upward, capturing images of their underwear.
That can qualify as a criminal act in Canada, where surreptitiously recording images up women’s skirts where the victims have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” is punishable under the voyeurism section of the Criminal Code.
‘I was pretty mad that this was happening to me’
One of the women who spoke up, Alexandra Constantinidis, 22, learned on Monday evening she was among the women whose images were posted to the site.
She said numerous friends alerted her to a nearly minute-long video that appeared to be of her walking in downtown Calgary, filmed from behind and focused on her backside.
When she watched it for herself, she recognized it as being recorded on Friday, as she was going to get lunch.
She then looked through the previous “CanadaCreep” posts, which date back to June 2016, and said she was shocked the account had been so active for so long.
“I was pretty mad that this was happening to me and also to a bunch of younger girls,” she said.
“It’s a little violating having somebody film you when walking down the street.”
More to come