The alleged victim says that she spotted a cellphone being held above a partition at TanUSA in Gainesville. She says that she could see the light was on for recording as she was applying lotion to her legs and screamed “What are you doing?” She says that a man responded by saying “I don’t know why you say that.” She quickly got dressed and confronted Ezzell, screaming “Get the **** out you pervert.” Ezzell was identified as the alleged suspect by his registration at the salon and surveillance video.
The 51-year-old woman also later identified as Ezzell as the man who stood behind her at the counter and said that he was “looking at me weird.” One report says that a surveillance video also captured Ezzell walking into the salon and looking at the woman, including an image of a badge inside Ezzell’s wallet.
Ezzell was the Levy County Division Chief and handled the high profile murder trial of Pedro Bravo. That prosecution led to convictions for murder, false imprisonment and other charges for the 2012 killing of Christian Aguilar, an 18-year-old University of Florida student. Ironically, it turned on surveillance video from businesses and cellphone records.
Ezzell resigned after the story broke on the arrest. In an email, he said “Out of respect for the victim, the prosecutor and the judicial system, I have no comment.”
The crime is defined under Florida law as:
(2) A person commits the offense of video voyeurism if that person:
(a) For his or her own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purpose of degrading or abusing another person, intentionally uses or installs an imaging device to secretly view, broadcast, or record a person, without that person’s knowledge and consent, who is dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the body, at a place and time when that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy;
(b) For the amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit of another, or on behalf of another, intentionally permits the use or installation of an imaging device to secretly view, broadcast, or record a person, without that person’s knowledge and consent, who is dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the body, at a place and time when that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy; or
(c) For the amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit of oneself or another, or on behalf of oneself or another, intentionally uses an imaging device to secretly view, broadcast, or record under or through the clothing being worn by another person, without that person’s knowledge and consent, for the purpose of viewing the body of, or the undergarments worn by, that person.
Source: Gainesville