EXTRA! EXTRA! Woman fingers man snapping pubics at Publix

(courtesy of Tampa Bay Online)

ST. PETERSBURG - A 53-year-old St. Petersburg man was arrested over the weekend on charges he was trying to videotape up women's skirts at a Publix supermarket with a camera attached to his shoe.

William Wright, of 546 93rd Ave. N., was charged with one count of video voyeurism on Sunday, according to Pinellas County Jail records. He was released from jail on his own recognizance within a couple of hours.

On Saturday, a woman spotted Wright at the Publix at 7999 Dr. Martin Luther King St. N., according to St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa.

The woman had seen Wright a month ago at the same Publix – and some months before that, at a Wal-Mart department store – and on both occasions she suspected he was videotaping up women's skirts, said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa.

At Wal-Mart, she lost sight of him before she could contact authorities, Kajtsa said. At the Publix a month ago, she went to contact the manager, but Wright had left the store by the time the manager was summonsed, Kajtsa said.

On Saturday, when the same woman saw Wright, she told an employee to get the manager as quickly as possible, and police were also called, Kajtsa said.

She and the manager then watched Wright, and saw him looking for women wearing skirts, Kajtsa said. They saw him edge up to the women, and follow them until they got into a check-out line to pay, the spokesman said. He slid his foot closer to them when he got into their general proximity.

A police officer confronted Wright and asked to speak to him in an office at Publix, Kajtsa said. Authorities found computer flash drives in his pocket, along with a trigger device, and two wires protruding from his pocket, Kajtsa said. The body of the camera was in Wright's pants, and the lens was apparently attached to one of Wright's shoes, Kajtsa said.