BLUEFIELD, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A JCPenney employee is facing a criminal charge after allegedly using a cellphone to record a man inside a restroom stall at Mercer Mall.
According to the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, a deputy responded to the JCPenney store on Mercer Mall Road shortly after 7 p.m. on September 12.
Brian Rode told the deputy that he was seated inside a restroom stall when another man entered the adjoining stall. Rode alleged that the man raised a cellphone over the divider and began recording him while he was using the toilet.
Rode said he noted the man’s black Puma athletic shoes and blue jeans before leaving the restroom and contacting law enforcement. He later identified the person as JCPenney employee Noah Robert Guthrie.
Guthrie denied taking any photographs or videos and said he had only been using his phone to access Facebook and YouTube while inside the stall.
Guthrie allowed the deputy to examine his phone. The deputy reported finding no photographs or videos of Rode and noted that the device’s trash folder was empty. A hidden-images folder was discovered but could not be accessed because it was protected by a security code.
While Guthrie was being escorted from the store, a man identifying himself as Guthrie’s boyfriend approached the deputy. According to the complaint, the man claimed a similar incident involving Guthrie had previously occurred at Golden Ticket Cinemas in Bluefield.
Deputies seized Guthrie’s cellphone as evidence.
Guthrie was arrested, processed at the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department and arraigned before a magistrate. He is charged with criminal invasion of privacy.
The charge is an allegation, and Guthrie is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
