A 21-year-old Clayton man, Thomas Ryan Elliott, avoided jail time after being caught taking photos under a woman’s dress at a Target in Greenville.
Elliott, arrested on April 15 and charged with felony secret peeping, faced a potential sentence of up to eight years. However, he was instead sentenced to three years of supervised probation and will not be required to register as a sex offender.
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The incident occurred at 10:42 a.m. at the Target on Evans Street. A woman in the store captured a man using his phone to take photos under another woman’s skirt. She confronted him and recorded the interaction on her phone before contacting police.
According to Greenville police, Elliott was charged in April with additional counts of felony secret peeping after Target's security footage was reviewed.
The Greenville Police Department said Elliott is believed to have targeted three different women at the store. He now faces five counts of secret peeping.
"I don't think it surprises me, because of what we hear from the news ... and from friends and family," one person said. "I feel sorry for the person it happened to."
WITN reports Winterville police have also charged Elliott with secret peeping after an incident at Opendoor Church in Winterville, where Elliott was a volunteer. The church said it fired Elliott after hearing of his charges.
According to WITN, "Winterville police said the man is accused of doing the same thing at the church that he did at the Target store."
All the victims were adult women, police said.
Greenville police said Target is cooperating with the investigation.
The woman’s video has since been posted to social media, garnering quite a bit of attention.
Pitt County Schools said Eliott was a volunteer at Eastern Elementary School. However, he was not an employee of the school district. A district spokesperson said he would not return as a volunteer.
WITN reported that detectives were reviewing Elliott’s electronic devices and have not found any evidence of inappropriate contact with children thus far.
Police in Greenville are encouraging people to remain aware of their surroundings, adding that being vocal can not only protect you, but those around you.
WITN contributed to this story.
On Friday, WRAL News spoke with Elliott's former high school classmates, Kathryn McKinney and Angel Caddell.
"It's disgusting and it's alarming," McKinney said.
Caddell said Elliott was a good leader in the school's ROTC program.
"The whole thing going on kind of took us by surprise, but he seemed to be a good person," Caddell said.
Caddell explained how she viewed Elliott in high school.
"We used to think of him as a good Christian man and a good leader because we had him as a leader in ROTC," Caddell said.