Man charged in mall Peeping Tom incident

SUNRISE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A man accused of taking lewd videos of women inside a South Florida mall is now in police custody.

Sunrise Police arrested 29-year-old Mel Ortiz earlier in the week at Saks Fifth Avenue in the Sawgrass Mills Mall.

According to the arrest affidavit, Ortiz used a Kodak camcorder to take pictures and video up women's skirts inside the store.

Saks employees contacted police shortly thereafter. Police said the accused Peeping Tom lied to them and gave them a fake name, but authorities eventually arrested Ortiz at the store and took him to the Broward County Jail.

Women who shop at the mall were outraged by the allegations. "I think that he's a pervert and that he needs to learn how to respect women," said Fallyn Evans.

"That's an invasion of privacy," said another shopper, Brittany Baier. "People come to the mall, they want to shop and hang out. They don't want to be bombarded by somebody doing that."

A similar case was reported at the same mall late last year. Police arrested 40-year-old Zanri Lesmes after they caught him taking inappropriate pictures of women inside the Marshalls Super Center.

Friday morning, Ortiz appeared in bond court and charged with voyeurism and serving up false information to police investigators. He remains at the Broward County Jail.

During Ortiz' court appearance, the judge read details of the case. "Allegedly, they called the police. The police allegedly caught you with a video recorder," the judge said.

Sawgrass Mills Mall released the following statement: "Working closely with local law enforcement, Sawgrass Mills takes a proactive approach to ensuring the safety of our shoppers, retailers and employees. We strive to provide the best possible shopping experience by enforcing a standard code of conduct and encourage shoppers to report any suspicious activity."

Sunrise Police urged anyone who feels they may have been victimized to come forward. Cindy McCue said, "It is possible there are more victims, and we would like anybody that either may have saw anything or may have been a victim to contact the Sunrise Police Department."

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)