EMS camera case waived
CRANBERRY TWP — A township man accused of hiding a camera in the women's restroom of the EMS building waived the charges against him to a higher court Friday.
Matthew T. Leonard, 37, of Cranberry Township appeared for a preliminary hearing before District Judge David Kovach on charges of felony intercept communications and criminal use of a communication facility and two misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.
Leonard did not speak during the hearing in which he waived the charges to court. He did not respond to questions upon leaving the hearing.
He remains free on his own recognizance while he awaits an April 16 formal arraignment.
According to court documents, a woman employed by the EMS department found a cell phone partially concealed on the floor behind a trash can in the women's restroom in the building Jan. 24. The camera was pointed at the toilet, the complaint states.
Officers spoke to Leonard, also an EMS employee, who said the phone belonged to him, and that he had recorded several videos in the past that were stored on the phone. He allegedly told police he would transfer the videos to a cloud-based storage system, and then watch them on his laptop. He told police he would then delete the videos.
Police searched Leonard's phone and computer and allegedly found videos of four different victims.
A video from Jan. 19 allegedly shows the first victim going to the bathroom, and includes audio of voices in the background, the complaint states.
A video taken Jan. 20 allegedly shows two different victims enter the restroom and have a conversation. The woman who discovered the phone is listed as the fourth victim in the complaint.
The complaint states there are “several” other videos showing Leonard in the restroom “making attempts to conceal the cellular device in various manners.”
As of Friday afternoon, Leonard remained suspended without pay from the department.
