Oklahoma security company technician arrested after placing secret cameras in client’s homes
OKLAHOMA CITY OK November 4 2018 – A former security company technician’s license will go under review by a state committee after he was arrested twice in roughly a week’s span, in two separate cases, where hidden cameras were found in children’s bedrooms of two metro homes.
The Oklahoma Department of Labor telling News 4 Friday that Ryan Alden is being called to appear before an alarm and locksmith committee in the wake of accusations he placed hidden cameras in at least two clients homes.
“This is the kind of information that we would want to have,” said Labor Commissioner Melissa McLawhorn Houston after Alden’s arrest last week, “and make sure that that license is pulled and they’re not able to continue to do business.”
Alden, 39, is currently in the Oklahoma County jail on child pornography, peeping tom and computer crimes charges. Alden was first arrested by Nichols Hills police last week, stemming from an investigation that began in mid-October.
The Nichols Hills Police Department started its investigation on October 18, after receiving a call that a family in the 1500 block of Camden Way found a camera in one of their teenage daughter’s bedroom air vent. Police eventually found three cameras in the bedroom, bathroom and closet air vents and learned Alden had been working in the home on various installation projects.
“We’ve executed search warrants on the suspect’s home. Obtained computers, laptops, cell phones, and those are currently being processed,” Nichols Hills Police Chief Steven Cox told News 4 Thursday. “It’s definitely a possibility (there are more victims). This individual placed cameras inside air conditioning ducts that could have very easily been done at other residences, while he was inside.”
When police interviewed Alden on October 24, he confessed to placing the cameras in the home and said he had viewed the camera footage at various times.
Alden “no longer works at Sound Advice,” said a Sound Advice employee when contacted by News 4 Thursday afternoon. “We have and are fully cooperating with authorities.”
After Alden’s arrest, Sound Advice technicians began checking homes Alden worked in, prioritizing homes by those with attics or children, according to court documents. That led technicians to a home in Oklahoma City’s Musgrave-Pennington neighborhood where they found two separate cameras, one in an 11-year-old child’s bedroom and a bathroom the entire family shares.
Alden was arrested in connection to that case by Oklahoma City police Thursday afternoon.
Alden was interviewed by police a second time this week, and admitted to installing the two cameras and watching footage from the home, as well as taking pictures of women in mall changing rooms and tanning beds, according to court records.
According to the labor department, Alden has been licensed by the state since July 2003 and was upgraded to a manager license in December 2015. Alden worked at Sound Advice from 2015 until his arrest, and worked at another Oklahoma City Security company, Guardian Security Systems, dating back to at least 2013.
Cheri Fletcher, general counsel for Tulsa-based Guardian Security Systems (which now does business in the state as Alert 360) would not tell News 4 how long Alden worked for the company, only that he “worked for us for several years” and that “authorities haven’t contacted Alert 360” but the company is “willing to cooperate.”
It’s unclear where Alden worked prior to 2013.
KFOR
