A 44-year-old Durham man already listed on North Carolina's sex offender registry is facing three new felony charges after police say he used his cellphone to secretly photograph women in dressing rooms at a Raleigh shopping center and a Durham thrift store. Kevin McDonald Henderson remained jailed without bail as of Monday morning, with an initial court appearance set for Wake County District Court.
Henderson is charged with two counts of felony secret peeping tied to a July 8 incident and a separate felony secret peeping charge out of Durham connected to an August 5 incident, according to the News & Observer. Police arrested him on all three charges, and investigators allege he photographed women at two unspecified shops at Triangle Town Center, the roughly 70-acre shopping complex in north Raleigh that has previously drawn police attention, including an April parking lot shooting. A separate account from CBS17 adds that investigators also allege a similar incident occurred near the same shopping center on July 30, expanding the timeline of the Raleigh investigation.
The Durham charge stems from an arrest warrant issued August 7 alleging Henderson used his phone on August 5 to secretly record a woman inside a dressing room at New Nearly New, a nonprofit thrift store at 3167 Hillsborough Road in Durham whose sales proceeds go toward gifting clothing to community members in need. Henderson is accused of photographing women in dressing rooms in both Durham and Raleigh using his phone.
A Registered Sex Offender Already on Probation
Henderson has been on North Carolina's sex offender registry since 2018, stemming from his 2013 Wake County convictions for second-degree sexual offense and secretly creating photos under garments. A jury found him guilty in that case in 2013, and the conviction traces back to a September 17, 2011 incident in the cosmetics department of a Raleigh Target, where he approached a woman who was bending down and touched her under her skirt, according to North Carolina Court of Appeals records reviewed by FindLaw. He was sentenced by Judge Michael J. O'Foghludha on February 28, 2013, and the conviction was upheld on appeal in April 2014, with the appellate ruling stating Henderson touched the victim on the buttocks while attempting to make it appear accidental. Henderson later testified that he committed the Target assault, and he was sentenced to a minimum of five years and nine months and a maximum of seven years and eight months in jail.
Henderson's record extends further back. He pleaded guilty in 2006 in Wake County to attempted secret peeping and attempted possession of photographic images, completing a year of supervised probation for that case. A subsequent risk assessment found Henderson to be high risk.
Newest Case Followed a 2024 Break-In
More recently, Henderson broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment in Durham County in 2024, and in January he submitted an Alford plea to breaking or entering and assault on a female charges. Judge Josephine Kerr-Davis, who sentenced him in that case, ordered Henderson to obtain a substance abuse assessment and complete anger management treatment, and placed him on a year of supervised probation with a curfew and electronic monitoring requirement.
Under North Carolina General Statute § 14-202(f), secretly using or installing a photographic device to capture images of another person without consent for sexual desire or gratification is a Class I felony, according to a legal explainer published by LL1885. Class I felonies carry potential state prison sentences depending on a defendant's prior record level, which could weigh heavily against Henderson given his history.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Wake County
Henderson's arrest adds to a string of secret peeping cases that have surfaced across Wake County this year. In April, Raleigh police filed 14 felony counts of secret peeping against an 18-year-old Wakefield High School student, and days later another Raleigh student was arrested in a similar case at Enloe High School. Those cases, unrelated to Henderson's, reflect what local authorities have described as a persistent rise in reports of illicit cellphone recordings in public and semi-private spaces.
All of the current secret peeping allegations against Henderson remain pending in Wake and Durham district courts, and he has not been convicted of the newest charges. His prior convictions for the 2011 Target assault, the 2006 peeping case, and the 2024 break-in are matters of record, but the latest accusations tied to Triangle Town Center and New Nearly New have yet to be tested in court.
