Convicted West Des Moines Mall Peeper in Trouble Again

West Des Moines police are investigating reports that a West Des Moines man was photographing young girls after the community’s Independence Day Parade on July 3.

Charles H. McLaughlin, 53, of 5683 Beechtree Drive was arrested for criminal trespassing that evening and police seized his camera and obtained a search warrant to examine its contents, according to a report on file at the .

Sgt. Ken O’Brien, a spokesman for the department, said there’s nothing new on the case yet.

Westcom Dispatch told officers at 8:30 p.m. on July 3 that a caller reported he was chasing a man who had been taking photos of young girls in the 3200 block of Vine Street. The caller said he lost track of the suspect in a back yard on 31st Street.

When Officer Ryan Anderson caught up with the suspect a short time later, McLaughlin claimed that he was breathing heavily because he had just been out for a run. When asked to produce his camera, he denied having one, but later changed his story and said he had hidden it in a nearby yard because the person chasing him was asking to see it.

Instead, McLaughlin reportedly told Anderson he handed the man a flash drive and then hid the camera. When police recovered the flash drive from the man who had given chase, it was empty.

Anderson wrote in his report that when he asked McLaughlin why he would hand over a flash drive to a stranger, McLaughlin allegedly said that he had been arrested two years ago for taking photos of women in a changing room at a West Des Moines mall.

According to online court records, McLaughlin was convicted in Dallas County District Court March 2011 of third-degree harassment and sentenced to two years’ probation, a suspended jail sentence, and sentenced to 30 days in jail in connection with a 2010 offense.

McLaughlin was originally charged with invasion of privacy, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges. He also also pled guilty to disorderly conduct (absue epithets/threats/gestures) at the same time.

According to the police report, Assistant Polk County Attorney Justin Allen urged police to seek a search warrant because the camera may have a hard drive that permanently stores photos.

The woman who lives at the property where the camera was hidden asked that McLaughlin be charged with criminal trespassing.