A 35-year-old man who allegedly used hidden cameras to secretly record women and teenage girls in a bagel shop, a Taco Bell Cantina and elsewhere near UC Berkeley’s campus has been arrested by Berkeley police.
The suspect, Noah Stein of Oakland, was arrested Friday after multiple reports of a man apparently using a concealed camera attached to his shoe to record footage under the skirts of women and minors.
Berkeley Police Department officials said their detectives began investigating Oct. 26 when a teenage girl reported that a man may have been recording videos up her skirt while she was waiting in line at Lox Stock and Bagel, a deli in downtown Berkeley.
The teenager had noticed the camera pointing up at her after she accidentally stepped on the man’s foot, police said.
Police said they collected evidence from the scene and identified a possible suspect, and using license plate reader technology were able to place the suspect in the area at the time of the incident.
Police did not make an arrest until several days later, after an officer patrolling the area by Durant Avenue and Bowditch Street late Thursday was approached by someone who reported seeing a man with a camera attached to his shoe apparently recording up women’s skirts.
Officers located and detained Stein in the area, and after a search, found a mini camera that had been discarded in a nearby trash can, police said.
Stein was arrested on suspicion of invasion of privacy using a concealed video recording device, annoying or molesting a minor and destruction of evidence, police said.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Stein’s home in Oakland and seized several electronic devices, police said.
Since the arrest, detectives also found a second, stationary camera concealed inside a Taco Bell Cantina near where the arrest took place.
Police said the camera was hidden at the Taco Bell at about 11 p.m. on Oct. 29.
Detectives believe Stein had been frequenting the area south of UC Berkeley’s campus for several weeks and are searching for other victims.
Berkeley police are urging anyone who was inside the Taco Bell that night, or who believes they may have been secretly recorded, to contact the department’s sex crimes unit at 510-981-5735.
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