ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A weeks-long search led to the arrest of a Clewiston man accused of filming a teen in a Royal Palm Beach Target fitting room and fleeing when she screamed.
According to the criminal probable cause affidavit, on January 3, a deputy with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office was called to Target in Royal Palm Beach just before 9 p.m. for reports of voyeurism.
A 14-year-old victim told deputies she was in a fitting room with her shirt off when a stranger in the adjacent stall “stuck his arm over into her stall and used a phone to take pictures of her while she was changing.”
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The victim immediately called out to her mom, who observed a 5-foot-10 blonde man running out of the fitting room and exiting through a restricted area.
After a weeks-long search, deputies say they identified the voyeur as 30-year-old Jacob Wilkinson of Clewiston on Saturday.
A follow-up investigation by detectives reportedly linked the suspect to a Chevrolet SUV bearing a Colorado license plate. A “need to identify” was also subsequently posted to Facebook, resulting in tips identifying Wilkinson and alleging there were “rumors about Jacob videoing women.”
Deputies are asking for the public’s help identifying a man accused of secretly recording a juvenile inside a Royal Palm Target dressing room. (PBSO, AP photo)
Wilkinson’s employer at Bergon Land Development contacted law enforcement on January 12, saying they should “look for another employee because he was going to jail.”
He reportedly confessed to the crime on the phone, saying he “videoed a young girl in a Target dressing room” and fled when she yelled. Wilkinson also allegedly admitted that this was not his first time.
Based on the evidence, deputies say they issued an arrest warrant on January 14 and located him on Saturday.
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Wilkinson was subsequently booked on a count of digital voyeurism by an over-24-year-old on a girl under the age of 16.
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