Washingtonville man accused of recording under women’s skirts has case bound over to grand jury

LISBON -- A Washingtonville man accused of strategically placing his cell phone on a shelf to video record under women's skirts while he was working at the Family Dollar in Leetonia had his case bound over to the Columbiana County Grand Jury.

During a hearing Tuesday in county Municipal Court before Judge Danielle Menning, Shane Alston Beckert, 22, Stocking Street, waived his right to a preliminary hearing on the felony charges, with the misdemeanor charges also referred to be considered by the grand jury.

Charges against him include fourth-degree felony pandering obscenity involving a minor and fifth-degree felony illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance and misdemeanor charges of voyeurism and possession of criminal tools.

He remains jailed under a $100,000 cash or surety bond and was ordered to have no contact with any children if he does make bail.

Leetonia police had been contacted by a victim regarding Beckert allegedly activating video recording on his cell phone and placing the phone in a shelf under a register counter inside the store to view her body and undergarments through her dress after tracking her through the store. On Oct. 3, a detective with Leetonia saw the phone on the shelf and confirmed the defendant was the owner.

In the affidavit, Detective Gavin Rambo indicated after Beckert was detained and his rights were explained, he allegedly admitted to "starting the recording with purpose to film underneath the victim's clothing to view her body/undergarments" and gave consent for Rambo to watch the video "which consisted of a seven minute and three second recording from the position in which (Rambo) found the device to be recording two unidentified suspected female victims from under their body."

The possession of criminal tools charge stemmed from his alleged use of his cell phone criminally.

An affidavit filed for the felony charges by Dan Haueter, an agent with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, described what happened during the examination of Beckert's phone, which Beckert provided consent for police to search.

"It was learned that Beckert had captured videos of a 12-year-old (juvenile) in both a state of nudity, and also in sexually explicit activity in 2023" in a community in another county and was still in possession of the videos and images. He allegedly admitted to capturing the videos and images on his cellular device between 2020 and 2024.

The affidavit said the videos and images appeared to be captured without the juvenile aware they were being taken "and some depicted the defendant himself engaged in sexual acts with the juvenile."