Arlington police are asking the public to help identify a man accused of secretly recording up a teenage girl's skirt inside a local store, then slipping away before officers could track him down. A bystander noticed a camera hidden in his bag and alerted police, but by the time officers arrived, he was already gone.
According to FOX 4 News, the adult male suspect carried a recording device concealed in a bag and attempted to film up the teen's skirt while inside the store. Another woman nearby noticed the camera in his bag and reported the incident to police, but the suspect left before officers could locate him. Arlington police have now asked the public for help identifying him, and the station reports that Detective Bunster has been designated as the investigative contact on the case, reachable at (682) 382-1617.
Anyone with information can also call Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County anonymously, which offers cash rewards of up to $1,000 for tips that lead to an arrest or felony indictment in Arlington and surrounding municipalities, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
How Arlington Police Typically Crack These Cases
The Arlington Investigation In this case, a bystander alerted police, and Arlington police appealed to the public for help identifying the suspect.
Arlington sits in Tarrant County between Dallas and Fort Worth and had a population of 394,266 in 2020, according to the Arlington, Texas entry.
What Texas Law Says About Invasive Recording
Under Texas Penal Code § 21.15, invasive visual recording is classified as a state jail felony, punishable by 180 days to two years in state jail and a fine of up to $10,000, according to attorney Saputo Toufexis. The statute, as amended in 2025, explicitly prohibits recording or photographing intimate areas under clothing in public venues where a person has a reasonable expectation those areas are not subject to public view, according to Varghese Summersett — a provision that covers exactly the kind of upskirt filming alleged inside the Arlington store.
Texas lawmakers overhauled this area of law after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down the state's prior “improper photography” statute as facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment in the 2014 case Ex parte Thompson, per FindLaw. More recently, a registration-related change took effect on September 1, 2025, and applies only to invasive-visual-recording offenses committed after that date, as Hoodline previously reported in a similar case.
If evidence shows the recording involved a person under 18, child-pornography laws may also be relevant, according to attorney Ned Barnett. The applicable statute of limitations is another consideration as investigators build a case once the suspect is identified, per Saputo Toufexis. Should he eventually be convicted of the state jail felony, he could be eligible for community supervision or deferred adjudication in lieu of jail confinement, Barnett notes.
For now, the suspect remains unidentified and at large, and Arlington police are asking the public for tips after a bystander reported the incident.
