Police have arrested a 57-year-old man accused of recording video of a young girl undressing in a bathroom.
They made the arrest based on a warrant signed last year.
The allegations are spelled out in an arrest warrant affidavit written by Detective Craig Alston, who investigated the case along with Detective William White.
Alston described the following story:
A girl “under the age of 16” (believed to be 12 or 13) was at the Hill neighborhood home of the arrested man, who goes by the nickname “Hovin.” Hovin is a family relation of the girl. He “recorded the victim undressing in the bathroom” with a Samsung T‑Mobile cell phone and without her knowledge as she prepared to take a shower.
A friend told the girl’s father that he had seen two videos on Hovin’s cell phone: One of him “sodomizing himself” — the report didn’t explain what this means — and one of a girl who looked like the young girl. The father heard similar rumors circulating in the family. Finally the girl’s aunt decided to investigate. She got a hold of the man’s cell phone. She found the footage. She re-recorded it from his phone onto her phone.
Detectives Alston and White viewed the footage on the aunt’s cell phone. It showed a man “adjust the cell phone in the bathroom and exit.” Later it showed the footage of the girl. The girls father identified the man in the video as Hovin.
Hovin’s photo also showed up in the police department’s database. Same guy.
Detectives went to speak to Hovin at the nursery where he worked. He said he no longer had the phone. He declined to give police a statement about the incident.
Two detectives also spoke with the girl, who reported that “nothing of a sexual nature had ever been suggested or had taken place between” her and Hovin. Her mother told police that she had confronted Hovin, who told her he had “accidentally recorded the video footage.”
Based on that investigation, police charged Hovin with voyeurism and risk of injury to a child, both felonies. He was arrested on April 2 and released with a promise to appear in court. His next court date is April 22.
