Hidden cameras found in bathrooms on Ocean City, New Jersey, boardwalk; police investigating
Police in Ocean City, New Jersey, are investigating after multiple hidden cameras were found in public bathrooms along the Boardwalk this week.
On Thursday, officers responded to a restroom at 6th Street and the Boardwalk in the Jersey Shore destination and spoke with a woman who found a hidden camera.
All other public restrooms on the boardwalk were then searched and "several additional cameras" were found in restrooms at 10th Street and 11th Street, according to police.
Fallon Conway, who found the first device, shared pictures showing that it looked like a pen or marker. She said she saw it sticking out from behind a trash can at the 6th Street restroom Thursday and reported it to the police.
"The first thing I noticed was there was a lens at the end of it. And then there was like a little slide that went over it, like it would on a webcam," Conway said. "So then I unscrewed it and I noticed there was an SD card inside and a charger port. So then I flipped it over, I saw on the back there was a microphone. I saw the blue light. So I was like, 'yeah, we should probably call the police.'"
Police told CBS News Philadelphia these are family-style restrooms, which are often where beachgoers change before going onto the sand or after leaving the beach. Investigators have yet to say how long they suspect the hidden cameras were in the public bathrooms.
Officers will now be stationed at the restrooms and conducting additional checks, police said.
Multiple people on the boardwalk told CBS News Philadelphia they were disgusted by the discovery of the covert surveillance.
"I can't tell you on the camera what I think they should do to the person," Ed McKeogh said.
"It's just awful, awful. Like, what are you going to get out of it? I don't understand. It's not for good," said Sister Maryann McKeogh with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
No charges or arrests have been announced yet. Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 609-525-9131 or email Lt. Dan Lancaster at DLancaster@ocnj.us.
"I want to assure the public that our detectives will use every available resource to find the person who placed these cameras, and any suspect will be prosecuted to the fullest," Mayor Jay Gillian said in a statement.
