DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Georgia man with a prior history of alleged sex crimes was arrested in Daytona Beach Tuesday, accused of using his phone to record a woman in the dressing room of a local clothing store.
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According to an incident report, Daytona Beach police officers were called to the Levi’s outlet store on Cornerstone Blvd. just before 11 a.m. Tuesday for a reported sex crime.
The first officer on scene made contact with 26-year-old Luke Pinkard, who was visibly upset and striking himself in the head with a closed fist, according to the report.
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Police met with the victim who said she was the only customer in the store when she entered. She said she entered one of the dressing rooms at the back of the store and tried on several pairs of jeans before she looked up into a mirror on the wall and saw the top corner of a smartphone being held over the door.
The victim told police she knew it was a smartphone because she recognized the distinctive three lenses on the corner.
She said she left the dressing room and saw a man later identified as Pinkard “lurking in and out of” another dressing room and confronted him.
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According to the report, the victim asked Pinkard, “excuse me, did you just put your phone in my dressing room?”
The report says Pinkard initially replied “no” before apologizing to the victim and saying “I will delete them,” offering to break his phone, and promising to never do it again.
When Pinkard pulled out his phone and began deleting video thumbnails, the report says the victim grabbed the phone to make sure he didn’t get it back. The victim then went to an office to get dressed while Pinkard paced around the sales floor, waiting for police.
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Officers reviewed surveillance video from the store that backed up the victim’s claims. As the investigation continued, one officer noted Pinkard was visibly crying and occasionally made statements to his wife saying “I’m sorry…we’ll get through this,” and, “that was idiotic,” referring to the incident.
Pinkard, a resident of Adairsville, GA, was arrested and booked into the Volusia County jail on a charge of video voyeurism. He’s since been released on a $5,000 bond.
A check of Pinkard’s criminal history revealed he was also facing charges out of Gordon County, GA for child molestation and “knowingly using or installing a device to observe or record underneath or through an individuals’ clothing.”
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