Man Suspected of Filming Up Skirts Arrested

Faced with several incidents in which men surreptitiously videotaped under women’s skirts, prosecutors filed disorderly conduct charges Tuesday against an Irvine software company employee who allegedly used a hand-held camera to film unsuspecting women shopping at Fashion Island.

David Wayne Lyman, 34, was arrested Tuesday by Newport Beach police, 16 days after he allegedly used a camera hidden in a carrying case to film under three women’s skirts.

Since that Aug. 9 incident, police and prosecutors have debated whether they could charge Lyman with a crime. In similar situations in three Orange County cities in June, police stymied without laws against videotaping in a public place were forced to let the men go and return their cameras and tapes.

The California Penal Code makes it a crime to film or videotape in restrooms or other areas where there is “an expectation of privacy” but not in a public place.

But Municipal Judge Geoffrey T. Glass was swayed by prosecutors who argued that the area under a women’s skirt is private. On Tuesday, he issued a warrant for Lyman’s arrest.

Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton, of the sexual crimes unit, hailed news of the arrest but called the problem worrisome.

“This is happening more and more in our beach communities, and there doesn’t seem to be much teeth in the law as far as this particular activity is concerned,” he said.

Middleton said law enforcement officials have met several times to discuss the incidents, including one in which a man secretly filmed up the skirts and down the blouses of women at Disneyland. In Garden Grove, a man filmed down women’s tops as they stepped off carnival rides at a harvest festival. And in Huntington Beach, a man was questioned by police after he taped women with a camera hidden inside a portable stereo.

It was the third woman Lyman allegedly taped at the busy mall on Aug. 9 who saw what he was doing, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott. She screamed, McDermott said, and her husband detained Lyman until police arrived.

Police questioned Lyman but did not charge him then.

Lyman was being held Tuesday at Newport Beach City Jail on $1,500 bail. He is expected to be arraigned today at the Justice Center in Newport Beach.