Shane Lee Wright, left, consults with defense attorney Chris Amato, regarding a sex offender registration form prior to the start of his sentencing hearing in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court on Friday. Judge Scott Washam requested more information regarding Wright’s medications, resetting the sentencing for 1 p.m. Sept. 22. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

LISBON — The man accused of secretly taking videos of women and girls in the Calcutta Walmart dressing room and the Planet Fitness locker room last year had his sentencing reset for 1 p.m. Sept. 22 after the judge requested more information about his medications and mental health.

Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam made the request after listening to Shane Lee Wright’s father, Rich, talk about his son’s lifelong mental health issues and problems with the wrong medications, saying he wants to have all the facts before passing sentence.

Wright, 25, Laredo Drive, Negley, entered a guilty plea in June directly to prosecutor’s information for a fifth-degree felony charge of voyeurism and misdemeanor possessing criminal tools in June without the case going through the county grand jury.

He was originally charged in August 2024 in county Municipal Court with fifth-degree felony voyeurism and misdemeanors of possessing criminal tools, inducing panic and eight counts of voyeurism.

At the beginning of the hearing, county Assistant Prosecutor Steve Yacovone talked about the plea agreement and recommended a sentence of 12 months in prison, saying he’s opposed to community control. He also recommended that Wright be designated a Tier I sex offender, requiring him to register his address as a sex offender every year for 15 years with the county sheriff’s office.

He explained this case occurred in August 2024, when Wright was found in the rafters of Planet Fitness on state Route 170 and admitted to St. Clair Township police officers that he went to the women’s locker room to take pictures of women. He also slid his phone into the changing room at the Calcutta Walmart while women and a juvenile were changing. Some of the videos even showed Wright’s face in the rafters at Planet Fitness, then the women.

“There was no doubt the defendant was committing this crime,” Yacovone said.

He also said he believed this was the worst form of the offense because these women just wanted privacy while trying on clothes or being in the locker room to prepare for a tanning session.

“This defendant violated that privacy for his own sexual gratification,” Yacovone said.

The victim in the charge for the plea was identified as a 15-year-old who should have had a reasonable expectation of privacy on Aug. 12, 2024 at Walmart in the changing room. The charge said that from Aug. 12, 2024 through Aug. 23, 2024, the day he was caught, Wright did “knowingly commit trespass or otherwise secretly or surreptitiously videotape, film, broadcast, stream or other record” the victim. The criminal tool was his cell phone.

According to a police affidavit filed in Municipal Court, Wright told a detective that “he gained access through the ceiling in the men’s locker room, then maneuvered to different areas of the building (women’s locker room/tanning beds) to take the videos/photos of women with his cell phone. Shane L. Wright stated he does this for sexual gratification.”

During the investigation, videos were observed on his cell phone, including the one of the known female juvenile inside the dressing room at the Calcutta Walmart on Aug. 12.

According to the affidavits in the files, three videos were recorded on Aug. 12 and two on Aug. 21 of unknown females inside the dressing room at the Calcutta Walmart. Those videos were in addition to the one of the juvenile.

There was also evidence that Wright took videos of two different unknown women on Aug. 22 in the bathroom area of the women’s locker room at Planet Fitness from an elevated point, with the women unaware of the recording taking place. Video from Aug. 21 showed a woman getting undressed in a tanning bed room at Planet Fitness, also from an elevated point with the woman unaware of the recording taking place.

Wright’s defense attorney, Chris Amato, accompanied by defense attorney Frank Williams, stressed the fact that his client had no record whatsoever prior to these events and noted that he doesn’t qualify for the Eastern Ohio Correction Center, a community-based facility in Wintersville, due to his lack of a criminal record.

Amato said Wright was diagnosed bipolar and his medication was changed after he was on the wrong medication for years.

“He’s on the right path now since he had his medication switched,” Amato said, explaining he has full-time employment and a 5-month old son. During his school years, he was on an individualized education plan. He also has obsessive compulsive disorder. He’s been in counseling since September 2024 and hasn’t missed any sessions. Amato handed copies of letters from Wright’s counselor and the mother of Wright’s child to the judge.

Wright’s father, Rich L. Wright, then came to the podium to speak and shared his son’s background, telling the judge he was adopted by the Wrights at 28 months old and prior to that he spent long hours in his car seat, marijuana smoke was blown in his face and beer was placed in his bottle. He and his wife have struggled with his mental capabilities since they got him and went through several doctors who would put him on different medications, but never take the time to talk to him.

He wasn’t trying to give excuses, but just sharing what they went through before the incident last year.

“There was a medication change prior to this happening,” he said, adding that Shane was placed on Adderall, which can cause manic episodes, noting he was undiagnosed as bipolar at that time.

Rich Wright said what happened was horrible for that young person, referring to the victim, but “that is not my son.”

He voluntarily turned himself in and took responsibility for what happened, his father said. He has no prior record and in his opinion, the judicial system is about rehabilitation. He said his son needs to continue the path that he’s on with counseling. He also found Jesus.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this guy than I am right now,” he said.

After hearing all that, Washam said he wanted to reset the sentencing.

A number of family members and supporters were in the courtroom for Shane Wright. No victims appeared to be present.

mgreier@mojonews.com