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St. Pete Man Used Cell Phone For Voyeurism, Police Say

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 28, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG Police today arrested a man on charges he used a cell phone to photograph underneath an airline stewardess's dress as she bent over a display table at a Bealls department store.

Bruce Weese

Bruce E. Weese, 52, who lives in the Hollywood mobile home park, 7230 Fourth St. N., was charged with one count of video voyeurism, a misdemeanor. Bail was set at $5,000.

Weese's arrest comes after police released store surveillance images provided by Bealls after the April 5 incident at its store at 7899 Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.

The victim — a woman in her 30s from Illinois visiting relatives — was unaware of what Weese was doing, but security guards had seen him behaving oddly outside the store, authorities said. Weese left before security guards could arrest him.

Weese also is suspected of going into the women's bathroom at the store April 16 and sliding his cell phone under a stall to photograph an 11-year-old girl, but he has not been charged in that incident, St. Petersburg police Detective Peter Venero said.

Investigators confiscated Weese's cell phone and were putting together a search warrant today so they could view the pictures on it, Venero said.

After the surveillance video was released, police received tips identifying the man as Weese, Venero said.

Investigators said they are looking into other possible instances of voyeurism, including the one involving the 11-year-old girl.

Weese was charged with voyeurism in Pinellas Park in 2006, Venero said. In that case, he went into a women's bathroom and peeked under a stall, Venero said. Weese pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 12 months of probation, according to court records.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson @tampatrib.com.

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