As it turns out, one of the suspects was another mom who was retrieving the footage for a man with whom she was having an affair.
A renowned physics professor, a businessman and a former insurance agent have a startling characteristic in common: They have all been busted for hiding cameras in women’s locker rooms.
Inside Edition found case after case of locker room perverts across America who used cell phones or miniature cameras to secretly record women and girls, some as young as 10 years old, while they were undressing.
Mia Walker is on her school swim team. Before practice, she changed into her swimsuit in a locker room at the local recreation center in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
She had no idea that for four months, someone was secretly videotaping her and the other youngsters changing in the locker room.
The camera was discovered accidentally by Mia's mother, Christina, and video shows the very moment the woman realized something was wrong.
The footage, obtained by Inside Edition, shows Christina sitting on a bench in the locker room waiting for her daughter to change into street clothes. At one point, she notices the glare of a lens coming from one of the lockers.
“I can’t believe that happened to my own kid,” she tearfully told Inside Edition. “I was just in shock. Absolute shock.”
It was later learned that another mom named Melissa Wenckebach was the one who planted the camera.
“I just thought, ‘How could a mom do this to another mom?’” Christina said.
Video actually shows the accused mom in the act of setting up the hidden camera and positioning it inside the locker for a good view.
Pleasant Prairie police Det. Laura Hoffman showed Inside Edition all 25 cameras they recovered after busting Wenckebach. Each one contained secretly recorded locker room video.
“It was really hard on the victims because we had to show them the images and the videos so that they could identify themselves,” the detective said.
A sobbing Wenckebach admitted everything, but said the videos weren't for her. She was having an affair with a guy who got a sick perversion out of watching the material
“He just liked looking," she said. "Like it didn’t hurt anybody."
His name is Karl Landt and he was filmed prepping a camera that he later gave to his mistress.
“It was like organized crime," Christina Walker said. "Like they had a system."
Altogether, Landt was found with more than 20,000 hours of voyeuristic videos. He was sentenced to 12 years. Wenckenbach was sentenced to six years.
“Just watch your surroundings when you're going into a locker room," Mia Walker advises. "You don't know what might be in there. You don't know who might be watching."”
Christina and Mia have helped champion a new law in Wisconsin to strengthen the punishment of peepers who spy on children.
