Police: Upskirt peeper had dozens of victims

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Police arrested a 36-year-old Pierce County man after he was accused of shooting videos up the skirts of girls at the South Hill Mall on Sunday.

Nicholas Jay Shreck faces felony voyeurism charges and is also accused of modifying a shopping basket to hold and hide a camera.

“It’s disgusting any way you look at it,” mother Carrie Bennetts said as she headed into the Puyallup mall Monday evening with her children.

“That's absolutely disgusting,” Ashley Job said. “I don't understand how someone could have a thought up a process like that.”

Job is a manager at Zumiez, one of the more than a dozen stores police said Shreck targeted at the mall.

Puyallup police said female customers reported to a loss prevention officer that Shreck was acting suspiciously. They said the officer tailed Shreck as he moved through the mall and called police, who arrested him.

Court documents said Shreck admitted to videotaping girls and claimed the youngest one was “maybe 17.” Police said Shreck had modified a black plastic shopping basket, drilling a hole in the corner for the view of a camera and screwing the camera into place on the bottom. They said he used newspapers to conceal the camera.

When Puyallup police searched Shreck’s home, they said they found more than 100,000 digital photos and hours of video footage of him cruising through grocery and department stores. Police said many of the digital still images appeared to be of younger females in their early teens or younger.

“Judging by the number of photos and the amount of footage, this was a full-time hobby for the defendant, all over the county,” Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist said.

He said they’re aware of dozens of victims already and there could be many more.

“That means people I talk to everyday could have possibly been violated and they have no idea,” Job said.

KIRO 7 went to Shreck’s father’s house Monday night but a person inside said Shreck’s father was not home.

Nicholas Shreck could face up to five years in prison if convicted of felony voyeurism.

He is in jail on $150,000 bail.

KIRO