Washingtonville man accused of filming up skirts at Leetonia business
Also facing felonies for possessing alleged nude images of a minor
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LISBON -- A Washingtonville man accused of strategically placing his cell phone on a shelf to video record under women's bodies while he was working at the Family Dollar in Leetonia is facing multiple charges, including felonies for possessing alleged nude images of a minor dating back to 2023.
Shane Alston Beckert, 22, Stocking Street, appeared via video for arraignment Monday morning in Columbiana County Municipal Court before Judge Danielle Menning. He had his initial appearance for fourth-degree felony pandering obscenity involving a minor and fifth-degree felony illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance and entered a plea of not guilty for misdemeanor charges of voyeurism and possession of criminal tools.
A preliminary/pretrial hearing was set at 1 p.m. Oct. 13 in county Municipal Court. He remains jailed under a $100,000 cash or surety bond and was ordered to have no contact with any children if he does make bail.
Leetonia Police Detective Gavin Rambo said the department was called to the business on Saturday for a report of an employee allegedly placing their phone on a shelving rack below the cash register with the camera facing up to record footage up the caller's skirt.
Rambo said that upon entering the business he immediately identified the phone described by the caller, which Beckert confirmed belonged to him. Rambo said that when he located the phone it was still recording and the video was approximately seven minutes long.
In the affidavit Rambo filed in court, he said after Beckert was detained and his rights were explained, he allegedly admitted to "starting the recording with purpose to film underneath the victim's clothing to view her body/undergarments" and gave consent for Rambo to watch the video "which consisted of a seven minute and three second recording form the position in which (Rambo) found the device to be recording two unidentified suspected female victims from under their body."
The possession of criminal tools charge stemmed from his alleged use of his cell phone criminally.
Beckert was taken into custody and transported to the Columbiana County Jail.
Rambo said that during a search of the device officers discovered suspected child sex abuse material on Beckert's phone and with the assistance of a detective from the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force a full dump of the phone was completed.
The affidavit filed by Dan Haueter, an agent with the task force, described what happened during the examination of Beckert's phone, which Beckert provided consent for police to search.
"It was learned that Beckert had captured videos of a 12-year-old (juvenile) in both a state of nudity, and also in sexually explicit activity in 2023" in a community in another county and was still in possession of the videos and images. He allegedly admitted to capturing the videos and images on his cellular device between 2020 and 2024.
The affidavit said the videos and images appeared to be captured without the juvenile aware they were being taken "and some depicted the defendant himself engaged in sexual acts with the juvenile."
Rambo said that while the videos of the juvenile were taken outside of the Leetonia Police Department's jurisdiction in another county, the department was currently collaborating with law enforcement agencies where the recording was made for potential charges based on illegal acts which transpired in the video.
Rambo said he could not identify the location where the video was taken or the participating agencies Thursday. Rambo also said that following the initial arrest additional upskirt videos taken during his time working at the business were discovered and the department was working to identify the victims for potential additional charges of voyeurism and possessing criminal tools.