Orem police search for drone-flying Peeping Tom; takes pics of neighbors through bedroom and bathroom windows

Orem police are hoping the man who is missing a drone will give them a call. Photo courtesy Facebook/Orem Police Department

OREM, Utah, Dec. 4, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Orem police are hoping the man who is missing a drone — one found hovering outside a private bathroom window and shooting video of bathroom activities — will give them a call.

According to Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez, a local man was getting ready for work Saturday morning and heard what sounded like a drone outside. He looked out his bathroom window, saw the drone and watched it land in a church parking lot.

The man picked up the drone and delivered it to police after his work shift.

Officers identified the drone’s owner through his self-portrait, recorded on the peeping-Tom drone, which also contained photos of various other people, shot through windows into their private bathrooms and bedrooms without their knowledge or consent.

Martinez put the following notice on the Orem Police Department Facebook page to alert the owner that his missing quadcopter had been found:

“If you answer yes to ALL of the following questions please call, 801-229-7070:

1 — Are you missing a quadcopter?
2 — Did you lose it this morning, in Orem?
3 — Are you looking over your shoulder to see if the police are following you?
4 — Have you been convicted of voyeurism in the past?
5 — Does the SD card in your quadcopter camera have videos of people in their private bedrooms and/or bathrooms?
6 — On the same SD card is there a picture of you flying your quadcopter?
7 — Would you like to turn yourself in before we have to come knocking at your door, maybe on Christmas morning, with a warrant?”

The post ends with, “We know who you are, but let’s make this easier on everyone!”

Martinez said, although police know who the man is, they want people to be aware that this type of voyeurism is possible. So if you hear or see a drone suspiciously near your home, close your blinds and call your local police.

85 COMMENTS

  1. Ok, so i am a regeresterd drone pilot with a part 107. Drone pilots who do this shit give us all a bad name and i hate it. But what is worse is these Key Stone cops in Orem who don’t know crap about investagating a down drone. Listen Dragnet. There is a onboard flight log you can download from the drone using a duel USB cable from the drone to a laptop. You will need the DJI app to do this. Then, you geniuses can see where the drone was launched at among several key points. This will give you Gomers an exact address as to where this drone pilot lives. Then you Girls need to pull a dfec file. This will tell you where the operator purchased the drone and what cc card he used. This will help you win your case in Orem Kangaroo court. WTH man…

  2. I am more the blow the phucking thing out of the sky kind of person. When the screaming idiot that owns it shows up about their drone, same treatment. Perverts don’t waste 12 people’s time, convict on the spot and this crap will stop without a cop!

  3. Any one who has ever used one of these sport drones knows how laughable it is to use for peeping in windows. The cameras are wide angle and any body parts smaller than a breadbox could even be identifiable let alone erotic at a distance greater that 12 feet. Get a life, folks.

  4. I’m calling BS. You’d have to be hovering freaking CLOSE to the window to get a decent shot and chances of drift causing you to wreck are high. You’d also be flying lower than normal (even at 2nd story level) and they only way to have line of sight (good enough for flying via video feed) means you need to be CLOSE. You’d also probably have to be watching the drone as flying by camera alone that close to a house isn’t going to cut it.
    I wonder if this is just yet another scary drone tactic based on false tales (ie they just took a photo of a drone and posted that). Why is the person that reported it not named, and if they truly know who it is, why aren’t they posting his photo asking for public help, or better posting his mugshot.
    Mugshot or it didn’t happen….

    • I guess you’re not really up to date on the latest hobby drones are you idiot. They can hover in place autonomously without crashing into anything and have a range of miles not feet. Try to keep up.

      • Yes, mine an many other can fly miles, very high up with line of sight. You can’t send RF signals through concrete, brick or wood very well.

        So you can’t be miles away if you are low enough to be at eye level with a window because the transmitter and receiver would not have line of sight. But you already knew that right?

    • Yet another idiot who THINKS he knows something about drones. Try to keep up junior. Modern drones have HD cameras that are very capable of taking high resolution images at close range. Moreover, they are nearly autonomous and can hover in place with minimal drift, regardless of wind conditions. Since you clearly know almost nothing about the technology, please stop wasting everyone’s time with retarded comments.

        • Iknow, Knows he’s an idiot. What a wimp hiding behind a keyboard. I bet if you said “BOO” behind him, he’d pee his panties….

      • I own several, that probably cost more than 1 month of your paychecks. If you really think you can point and click and a drone will avoid a chain link fence, small branches, or powerlines you are sadly mistaken….

        And Modern drones don’t have HD cameras as thats only 720p, or 1080p, they have UHD, or SUHD cameras with 4k or better resolution.

        For a name like Iknow, you sure seem to not know what the hell you are talking about.

      • I own a DJI Phantom 3 advanced and a Phantom 4 pro. Neither have zoom function, both are susceptible to wind drift. How many drones do you own? I’m a few grand into owning and flying drones pal and my experience tells me you don’t even own one. Pipe down pipsqueak.

  5. I’m a nerd with a part 107. I was bottle fed please understand I’m important now that I have my part 107 Now let me tell you some meaning less nerd speak ,so that if you are a girl I could talk to you without having to actually look at you.

  6. I don’t think that this is illegal. If you leave your window coverings open and a drone films you from outside your property line how is it so different from the neighbor up on a hill looking out of his window into your yard?

    • Stand in the street by my house with your drone shooting camera angles into my home some time. You’ll find out very quickly how different it is. You’ll be lucky if you can walk after the beat down.

      • No one is interested in taking pictures if your fat wife in her single-wide trailer dude! Trust me you are safe!

  7. OMFnG!!!!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING, They are here for us. Run for your lives. Yes yes yes… cose your blinds, duck and cover. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

  8. I think this is criminal, but exactly what crime was committed? I’m not aware of the exact crimimal statute that was violated. If the drone flew farther away but had a better camera and lens would this still be a crime?
    It’s a bad situation that needs to be addressed by our legislatures.

  9. Saying multiple times that they know who it is pretty much guarantees that the opposite is true. If they actually knew, they’d go bring the guy in and charge him. This is a Phantom – it sounds like a massive swarm of bees and is covered in very bright flashing lights – both things that would make it pretty damn terrible at spying on people without getting noticed.

    This feels much closer to a publicity stunt or staged justification for a city ordinance banning drone use.

    The simplest explanation though would probably be that they don’t know exactly who it is, and are hoping they’ll trick the person into coming in and confessing.

  10. Somewhere out there is a guy that is thinking “Guess that’s the last time he’s going to let me borrow his drone, Honey, looks like we’ll have an open seat for Christmas dinner!”

  11. I love the way the Police have handled this. I am alarmed that there seems to be no local, or maybe even Federal & State laws in many areas if the Country that deal with drones. Why wait until a plane is brought down, or your children are suddenly the stars of some sleazy persons personal video shows. To the Orem Police Department, “Well done”!

  12. It would take a special kind of stupid to risk a $1000+ drone trying to fly close enough to a window to peep inside. In the daytime this would be nearly impossible. Just go outside on a sunny day and try looking in your own windows. You can’t see anything unless you put your face up to the window. And at night you can’t see where you are flying. Hit a tree branch or power line in the dark and down it goes. And drone cameras don’t have zoom lenses so you’re not going to get much of a shot unless you’re up close.

    • Agreed, Jay, but unfortunately…and I’m sure you’re aware of this…there is PLENTY of the special kind of stupid that you referenced to be found among our fellow humans. I see examples of it virtually every day.

  13. i dont give a shit!!/..use it but I will shut down your drone and destroy it!!..i dont give a damn why are you using it for or who you are. even a police or a military drone if around my house i will shot it down and destroy it!!..end of story!!!

  14. The bright flashing lights were covered by tape so as to not draw attention while flying at night. This guy was flying early in the morning so he could just watch for a light to come on and go to that light. I watch the local news. This guy is on the run. They know almost everything about him including his underwear size. He has been involved in voyeurism before. These things generally creep me out. We have way too many cameras watching our every move.

    • The police seem to want to instigate and scare the public. Every technology has a ‘down’ side, and every technology can be abused.

      If the police know who owns the drone, they should simply pick the owner up and arrest them if a crime has been committed.

  15. Selling drones to the public is a bad idea. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this would be the result. Flying a drone onto someone else’s private property should be criminal, and should result in forfeiture of the drone.

  16. How many other people is the pedo spying on with his backup drone while the cops play games and diddle themselves for their own cleverness?

  17. on the 1st day of christmas my true love gave to me…. a drone naked drone pic of me..
    on the 2d day of christmas my true love gave to me…..2 double A batteries and a naked drone pic of me
    on the 3d….

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