DA: Man replaced bathroom towel hooks with hook-like cameras to record women

Teddy Browar-Jarus, 32, was arraigned yesterday on 26 counts of secretly recording an unsuspecting nude person, 11 counts of willful recording of oral communication, and one count of attempting to video record an unsuspecting person in a state of nudity, the Middlesex County District Attorney's office reports.

Prosecutors charge Browar-Janus used "a hook camera, a camera that is similar in appearance to a plastic hook used to hang towels or robes in a bathroom, but with a hidden camera inside," to record a series of female roommates and other women in two Somerville apartments.

In 2015, a former roommate of the defendant awoke hearing an unfamiliar beeping sound. When she approached the bookshelf in her bedroom she allegedly found a cell phone with its camera facing the bed with the name “Teddy” on the home screen.

The DA's office reports that, during a raid, police found:

Multiple recording devices, including a laptop computer and a hook camera. ... A forensic search of the defendant’s laptop resulted in the discovery of dozens of videos of women in a state of undress; some in the bathroom, others engaged in sexual activity, as well as several female roommates in various state of undress in their own bedrooms. Many videos also included the recording of conversations. The investigation allegedly showed that the hook camera had been installed in the bathrooms of two Somerville apartments to record women entering and exiting the shower. The police also located videos created through the use of smart phones and a laptop computer.

Police identified 13 women who had been recorded without their consent, dating back to 2011, the DA's office reports.

At his arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court, Browar-Janus was released on personal recognizance, but ordered to stay away from the victims and to not publicly identify them.

Innocent, etc.