ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A 20-year-old man was arrested early Tuesday morning after he recorded a teenage girl in a Bealls dressing room, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said.
Richard James Westerman, of St. Augustine, is charged with video voyeurism.
Nearly two months ago, deputies said, a 14-year-old girl was trying on a bathing suit in a dressing room at the retail store on CBL Drive and while she was changing, she noticed a cellphone pointed at her from underneath the dressing room door.
The teen screamed and the person holding the cellphone ran out of the store, deputies said.
On April 6, the Sheriff's Office posted a surveillance image from inside the Bealls, and several people identified Westerman as the man in the photo, according to deputies.
The next day, detectives said, they found Westerman at his home on Debra Court, where he admitted to taking photos and video of the victim, but he claimed to have deleted all of the images.
Investigators said they seized the cellphone and an arrest warrant was issued April 24.
Westerman was taken into custody and booked into the St. Johns County Jail shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
He was released three hours later after posting $2,500 bond. News4Jax later stopped by his home where family members said Westerman regrets his actions.
"He doesn't want to talk right now," his brother said. "I think it's, personally, sick actually. It's pretty bad when you have to do that."