Chesterfield Police search for victims of man filming inside homes

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – The Chesterfield Police Department says they need help from the public after detectives made an alarming discovery during a recent arrest.

A man is in custody for filming women inside their homes without their knowledge.

“The resident was alerted via Ring of motion in her backyard. She checked the footage and captured an unknown male looking in her window,” Sgt. Robert Powell, Chesterfield Police Department, said.

Sgt. Powell says the video shows Suraj Shah standing outside the victim’s home, filming them.

“He’s just going around videotaping. At this particular home, he had made multiple trips to this home. He has several video clips of our victims in partial states of undress,” he said.

Officers said Shah confessed to filming the women. He is facing four counts of attempted invasion of privacy. Investigators began unraveling years of videos when searching through Shah’s phone.

“We have investigators who are combing through a lot of videos that he has on his phones, and they are just trying to piece everything together. Locations as well as victims,” said Sgt. Powell.

Court documents show Shah was arrested in 2019 for filming women without their consent in various stores, including in dressing rooms. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said those charges were dismissed due to insufficient admissible evidence.

According to police, Shah’s phone has videos of women from at least the last couple of years. They’re asking anyone who recognizes Shah to contact police as they work to identify more victims.

Sgt. Powell is reminding everyone to make sure exterior lights and surveillance cameras are fully operational.

“It is just a reminder to everyone. Make sure that your doors are secured. Make sure that your blinds and curtains are closed. Especially if you’re going to be in a partial state of undressed or fully nude. Because you just don’t know,” he said.

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