You're watching David Bay at 6.
I'm Courtney Robinson.
And I'm Josh horwitz.
Carolina and Dave are off.
All new at 6:10 investigates is
exposing the rising problem of hidden
cameras recording unsuspecting people
during their most private moments.
You were looking at images here.
These are of hidden cameras that
we've come across the Tampa Bay
area here that our team has
been uncovering all year long.
And tonight, 10 investigates Jenna
Bourne has learned the Pinellas County
Sheriff's Office demoted a Sergeant
after investigators say he mishandled
evidence in a hidden camera case.
A woman reported she found a hidden
camera in her bedroom's AC vent.
We got ahold of an internal memo that says
a Pinellas County Sergeant who came out
there to investigate dropped the ball.
A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office memo
says Sergeant Eugene Paniccia took one
photo of the camera in the AC unit
before potentially contaminating the
evidence by touching it without gloves.
The memo says he put the evidence on
the woman's bed and then left without
anyone there to keep an eye on it.
The Sheriff's Office claims the woman's.
Roommate, who was suspected of
putting the camera in her vent,
was able to come in unnoticed
and take the camera.
The report also says Sergeant Panichi's
body camera was in sleep mode.
Through most of his shift.
The Sheriff's Office demoted
him from Sergeant to deputy.
Our interview requests with the sheriff
and with now deputy Panocha were declined.
There were eighteen videos of me and then
like screenshots and snapshots. Emily
Ashman knows what it's like
to have her privacy. Faded.
Do you feel comfortable telling
me what was in the videos? Yeah,
so I mean I was completely nude.
Ashman was recorded by her teacher,
Mark Acket, at Bloomingdale Senior High,
A Hillsborough County
public school in Valrico.
We got these images from the state
Attorney's office showing ackets,
cameras hidden in cardboard
boxes with holes cut out.
125 students and one staff
member were recorded.
Mark Akitt was sentenced
to 15 years in prison.
What's your message to people who
think this couldn't happen to them?
It's hard because. Beforehand,
that was never a thought that ever went
through my head in a dressing room,
out of store, in a mall.
Never once did I think of
something like that. I don't.
I just feel like people don't really think
like that unless it has happened to them,
because now it's something I
think about everywhere I go.
It can happen,
and it'll happen in a circumstance
where you least expect it.
In 2017, vacationers found hidden
cameras disguised as smoke detectors in a
longboat key condo they rented on Airbnb.
We've also seen a bunch of hidden
cameras in bathrooms in a Clearwater gym,
a Pinellas Park office building.
On Valentine's Day in 2021,
a customer at a Lakeland Circle K found
an iPhone in an envelope hidden under
the sink while she was in the restroom.
So how do you spot a hidden camera?
We put six in this kitchen and put cyber
intelligence specialist Matt Auben to work.
So Matt, we've got six cameras
hidden in this kitchen,
and what I'd like you to do
for us is just kind of walk us
through how you would go about.
Looking for those hidden cameras.
OK, so I'm just gonna step out of
the way and let you do your thing.
Alright, so I've never been
in this kitchen before and I don't
have any of my equipment with me.
So I've got $45,000 worth of
detection equipment in the car.
But for the purpose of this,
we're really just trying to see what
do you do if you don't have that
equipment and you're really just going
on the the training or instincts alone.
So as I'm walking in,
I see that hook over there,
which these are actually really
commonly used to have cameras in them.
You see that tiny little?
Discrepancy right there.
That's usually a really quick giveaway
to be able to find that there's a
camera or something off base with that.
So I would definitely say that that's one.
Another thing that I often look
for are unused electronics.
The standard AC/DC adapter
has a camera lens right here.
It really also has no business being
here without a quarter without
something that's connected to it.
I've also noticed we've got two
basically clock radios in here.
This one appears to have a camera
right here in the middle of it.
This makes 5 clocks in this kitchen.
You already have three of them built-in.
Unless you're just super obsessed
with time for some reason,
you don't need that many,
so it causes suspicion to go
looking for those.
This clock I don't necessarily see a lens.
Again,
I'm not using any equipment or anything else,
but the adapter that it's plugged into does
have a camera in it right in the middle.
If you just look and see above that this
smoke detector it's not a normal place.
Your detector.
It isn't a kitchen,
but it does appear to have a camera
lens within it when you open it up.
It doesn't have the typical components
of a smoke detector within it.
It's actually got spots for SD
cards and other memory well,
you typically aren't going to need.
USB C charger or an SD card
in a normal smoke detector.
Most people have changed smoke
detector batteries before,
so you know what you're looking
at if you look inside one.
As to whether or not something
looks a little bit off.
Any fire smoke detector that I've
ever seen has a test button on it.
This one doesn't, and it's not a name brand.
I found five out of 6 so far,
and honestly,
I'm struggling to find the last
one without being able to use
any of my equipment as a crutch.
You
were very warm because you
you spotted this clock,
but you said that you
didn't find a lens on it.
But this actually is.
It does have one on it.
There is one right there.
Aubin recommends unplugging and
removing anything you're not sure about.
Our Hidden camera episode was our
most viewed episode this year of our
investigative YouTube series, What's Brewing?
Take out your phone or tablet
because this code is going to make
it really easy for you to find.
Open your camera app and point
it at this QR code.
No need to take a picture,
a link will pop right U to take you
directly to our YouTube channel,
the deeper dive which is
home to what's brewing.