Lockport man charged with secretly making videos of co-worker in shower

A Lockport man has been accused of secretly video recording a co-worker who was taking a shower inside his home, police said.

On Monday, Brian Ericksen, 36, was taken to the Will County jail on a felony charge of unauthorized video recording. The investigation that led to Erickson’s arrest began Aug. 18, when a 37-year-old man reported the incident to the Lockport Police Department.

The warrant for Ericksen’s arrest said he’s employed by American Cleaning and Restoration South in Woodridge. Huff said the 37-year-old man worked for the business.

The man told officers that he had gone to a co-worker’s house the day before to prepare for a work function in the evening hours, Lockport Deputy Police Chief Ron Huff said.

Ericksen “commonly allowed co-workers to go to his residence” between work functions so they did not have to drive out of their way to go home first, Huff said.

After the man took a shower in a guest bathroom in Ericksen’s home, he got out of the shower and noticed a vape pen charging on the counter, Huff said.

When the man took a closer look at the charger, he saw the “charger was a covert surveillance camera that was pointed at the shower,” Huff said. The device had videos showing the man undressing, using the toilet and entering the shower, he said.

The videos of the man and of the device being set up were the only videos on the device, Huff said.

The man then took the camera and the recording media to the Lockport Police Department to file a report because he had not consented to the video, Huff said.

After an investigation, officers determined that Ericksen had placed the surveillance camera in the bathroom “in such a way as to record individuals using both the toilet and the shower,” Huff said.

Will County sheriff’s deputies arrested Ericksen on a warrant and took him to jail, Huff said.

Judge Dave Carlson ordered Ericksen to be released from the jail Tuesday after determining that he was not charged with an offense under the SAFE-T Act that requires him to remain locked up, according to court records.