A transgender woman was arrested Monday after another woman accused her of shooting video of her in a fitting room in a Target store in Ammon, Idaho, while she was trying on clothes.
According to East Idaho News, an 18-year-old woman was trying on swimsuits when someone in the fitting room next to her reached over the partition and began recording her with a cellphone.
“The victim’s mother confronted the suspect, who immediately fled on foot. Both (the victim and victim’s mother) described the suspect as a white male who was wearing a dress and a blonde wig. A witness observed the suspect get into a vehicle and leave the area,” the newspaper quoted police documents as saying.
A witness told East Idaho News the victim was demanding for the images to be deleted from the suspect’s phone.
“The woman was begging for help as she chased the man out the door,” the unnamed witness told the newspaper. “She kept saying she wanted those pictures deleted.”
According to the police report, the vehicle used by the suspect to flee the store was traced back to a Sean Patrick Smith, who was eventually charged with voyeurism.
Police interviewed Smith’s roommate who told authorities that Smith “is a transgender male who identifies as a female, Shauna Smith. The roommate was shown video footage of the incident and was able to identify the suspect as Smith.
Smith admitted to police that she had previously made videos of women undressing and she makes them “for the same reason men go online to look at pornography,” according to police documents.
According to East Idaho News, Smith was charged with one felony count of video voyeurism and was booked into county jail as a male.
Earlier this year, North Carolina signed legislation that limits transgender people’s use of public washrooms. It forces those who identify as transgender to use washrooms that correspond with the sex recorded on their birth certificate. The HB2 law became a largely debated law across much of the U.S.
In April, Target issued a statement saying the retail chain supports the federal Equality Act, an act that protects members of the LGBTQ community against discrimination.
“In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity,” the company said.
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