Six counts of invasion of privacy, endangering welfare of children (manufacturing child porn)
OCEAN CITY – A Philadelphia man has been charged with putting hidden cameras in public bathrooms on the Ocean City Boardwalk earlier this month.
Harold Perkins, 38, of the 4200 block of Glenview Street, was charged with six counts of invasion of privacy and six counts of endangering the welfare of children (manufacturing child pornography) on June 20.
About 6:20 a.m. June 20, according to Lt. Dan Lancaster of the Ocean City Police Department Detective Bureau, detectives from the OCPD, detectives from the Special Victims Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department, agents with the Department of Homeland Security (HSI-Atlantic City) and a K-9 Unit with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General executed court-authorized arrest and search warrants at a residence and vehicle in the 4200 block of Glenview Street.
Lancaster said Perkins was taken into custody at the residence in Philadelphia and remains in Pennsylvania awaiting extradition proceedings, Lancaster reported on Friday, June 20.
The charges stem from an incident on June 12 in Ocean City.
A woman contacted police that day to report she found a hidden camera placed inside one of the bathrooms at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk. Police responded about 12:25 p.m. Afterwards, police conducted searches of the other public restrooms on the Boardwalk and found additional cameras at the restrooms at 10th Street and 11th Street.
“I want to assure the public that our detectives will use every available resource to find the person who placed these cameras, and any suspect will be prosecuted to the fullest,” Mayor Jay Gillian said at the time.
If any members of the public have any information regarding the investigation, they can contact the Detective Bureau at (609) 525-9131 and/or dlancaster@ocnj.us.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff