James Dirk Roberts, 55, of Philadelphia.
A registered sex offender from Philadelphia has been charged with nearly a dozen counts of invasion of privacy, after police said that he took hundreds of revealing photos of unsuspecting women and uploaded some of them as Google reviews for the location where they were taken.
James Dirk Roberts, 55, has been charged with 11 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy, in connection with a 10-month investigation by the Montgomery Township Police Department.
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began on July 2, 2020 when police received a report by phone in reference to an individual who had taken photos of a female employee at a local business without her permission. The photos were of the victim’s breasts and cleavage while she was at work, and the suspect had attached the images to a Google review of her employer.
The review read:
“I love the [store name]! There are so many [items] to see. Some young and fresh, some aged and matured…equally magnificent! The staff is careless enough to allow me ample opportunities to make myself abreast of the stock. Customer service I received from [victim’s name] was amazing! She knew exactly what I was looking for and she showed me almost everything I wanted. [Victim] made sure to put her heart into her job and she bent over many times so she could present to me the properly aged [items] I was looking for.” (Note: bracketed statements have been inserted by the editor to obfuscate identifying information about the victim and where they worked.)
In an interview with police, the victim stated that she was unaware that the photos were being taken.
Investigators located the user account associated with the review, and stated that they found dozens of reviews and hundreds of photos taken that focused on the breasts, buttocks and private areas of unsuspecting women. Police said the first upload occurred in April 2019 and carried on through July 2020, with victims ranging from 13-to-70-year-old, according to the complaint. The images depicted the victims in various states of undress, as well as in settings where they would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, police said.
A review of the Google account by North Penn Now shows dozens of reviews across Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Philadelphia counties, with some appearing to be straightforward reviews and others appearing to be coded sexual language, like the one above. It is unclear which reviews had images attached to them, as Google has removed all photos from the reviews — likely due to the investigation.
Efforts to reach officials from Google for comment have been unsuccessful.
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An
overview of reviews left by the account. (Credit: Google Maps) |
On Aug. 18, 2020, investigators received the results of a search warrant served on the Google user account, which did not reveal the suspect’s real name but included multiple selfies as well as a photo of a notice of appeal for a court case that identified the suspect as Roberts, along with his cell phone number and previous address, the report states. Investigators also took note of a visible vehicle registration in one of the photos, which was traced back to a business owner in Cheltenham Township, according to the report.
Investigators went to the business and spoke with the owner, who identified two of the victims as former employees and added that Roberts had previously worked there, but was terminated after they had discovered he had set up a hidden camera in the bathroom, the report states. The owner stated that Roberts had provided them with an apology letter and admitted to “having a problem,” according to the report.
When asked about Roberts, the two victims stated that they initially went to police, but didn’t follow through with filing a report as they wanted to forget about it and feared that Roberts would return to harm them, police said. However, one of the victims retained possession of the sim card they had removed from the camera, which showed Roberts setting it up behind the toilet, police said.
Police were able to determine Roberts’ current address via the Pennsylvania Megan’s Law registry, and served a search warrant at his apartment in September 2020, the report states. Investigators recovered multiple electronic devices, cameras, computers and USB drives, which were forensically downloaded and analyzed, according to the report.
While most of the devices were benign, investigators said the analysis of a laptop revealed hundreds of videos and photos of unsuspecting female victims, with the majority of the victims being unidentified at this time.
Investigators officially filed charges against Roberts on March 19, however he was not taken into custody and arraigned until May 4. Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy set bail at $10,000 unsecured, and Roberts was subsequently released from custody. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing in front of Judge Duffy on May 18 at 10:45 p.m.
Prior to the investigation, Roberts had been on the sex offender registry for approximately 10 years. Records indicate Roberts was convicted of possession of child pornography in another state on April 6, 2006, and his registry in Pennsylvania began on May 11, 2011.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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