HOUSTON – A Houston woman is terrified after someone slipped a camera under her fitting room door, she thinks in an attempt to record her changing.
Candy Abrego was doing last-minute Christmas shopping at a Marshalls store across the street from the Galleria, but instead of leaving the store with gifts, she left in fear.
“I’m still a little scared, I’m still a little shaken up from it,” she said.
After about an hour of shopping, she went to the fitting room to try on a dress.
“I see in the corner, I see what looked like the back of a phone, the camera part of the back of a phone,” she said.
She quickly opened the dressing room door only to find a man standing right outside of it.
“I screamed at him, ‘What are you doing?’ I mean at this point, I started to shake,” she said.
She shoved him in an attempt to get the phone. He shoved her back and took off.
“I want to make sure my image or whatever he recorded of me is not out there – I think that’s the scariest part,” she said. She isn’t sure how long the camera was pointed into her fitting room.
A company spokesperson for Marshalls said they are aware of the incident.
“The safety and privacy of our customers and Associates are top priorities, and we regret our customer’s experience. We are looking into this with the appropriate members of management. We are grateful for the quick response of the Houston Police Department and are cooperating with them during their investigation. As this is a matter of law enforcement, we will respectfully defer any further comment to the HPD,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to KPRC 2.
Houston Police confirmed the department is investigating. Officers responded to the store after it happened and looked at surveillance video.
“They can see where he spotted me in the store and started kind of always being around my area,” Abrego said, after talking with officers about what the video showed.
That is even more of a reason she hopes others stay alert while shopping.
“Be aware of your surroundings. When you go into a fitting room, make sure you’re looking under, behind you, above you,” she said.
She doesn’t plan on returning to a fitting room anytime soon.