Provo police arrested an Orem man after an 11-year-old said a phone appeared over the changing-room stall next to hers at a Ross store on University Avenue.
Daniel Donofrio, 36, had brought the girl to the store to try on clothes as a family friend, ABC4 Utah reported Wednesday. Reporter Sorina Trauntvein wrote that he was arrested on one count of voyeurism for allegedly recording a child under 14, a charge the station described as a third-degree felony. Arrests are allegations, and Donofrio is presumed innocent unless proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Utah’s voyeurism law makes secretly recording someone without consent a third-degree felony when the alleged victim is under 14 if the recording is intended to view a portion of that person’s body for which they reasonably expect privacy. The statute, now numbered 76-12-307 after a 2025 recodification, requires intentional use of technology to make the recording; the charge described in the report remains an allegation, not a finding that those elements were proved. Utah’s recorded-voyeurism statute sets out those requirements and penalty.
Two Stalls At The Front
Officers responded Sunday, Nov. 8, to the Ross at 1235 S. University Ave. The store had only two changing-room stalls, both at the front.
The girl told them she was using one when she saw a phone appear over the top of the stall beside her. Surveillance, as ABC4 described it, showed Donofrio sitting across from the dressing room. He stood, entered the adjacent stall, stayed there for 40 seconds, and returned to the chair.
Her mother identified him in that footage. On the video he had longer hair and a beard.
A similar fitting-room case was reported in Orem in 2009, when police arrested a man accused of using his cellphone camera to photograph a woman trying on clothes in a store dressing room. The reported conduct involved an adult victim, and the man was arrested on misdemeanor voyeurism charges, offering a local comparison to the felony charge in this case involving a child under 14. KSL’s account of the 2009 Orem arrest described the alleged phone-camera incident and the misdemeanor booking.
Answers Police Called Inconsistent
Officers brought Donofrio in for questioning and described his answers as "inconsistent."
He claimed the girl's mother had told him to check the stall and make sure nobody was inside. She said she never asked him to check it. He also told officers he had gone into the changing room to "walk around." ABC4 described the room as very small.
He said the mother had blocked him and that he had deleted all the photos of the family that he had. A warrant was approved for his residence and his cell phone. The station reported that he allegedly changed his appearance by cutting his hair and shaving his beard.
A Knife Photo, The Mother Alleges
The mother alleged that after she told Donofrio she was going to Ross to get the surveillance footage, he sent her a picture of himself holding a knife next to his arm and made suicide threats.
ABC4 relayed that account as her allegation. It is separate from the changing-room report officers took from the 11-year-old on Sunday.
Held At Utah County Jail
Donofrio was booked into the Utah County Jail. ABC4 reported Wednesday that he is being held there with bail.
The station advised anyone with child sexual abuse material to report it to law enforcement through the Internet Crimes Against Children tip line at (801) 281-1211, or to contact local police.
