OKLAHOMA CITY – A former security company employee, arrested last week after a Nichols Hills family found hidden cameras in their home, including a teenage girl’s bedroom, was arrested again Thursday after two cameras were found in a northwest-side home.
In an arrest warrant affidavit filed Thursday, Ryan Aaron Alden admitted to placing the hidden cameras in a home near NW 23rd and Meridian, as well as taking pictures and videos of women in mall changing rooms and tanning beds.
Alden, 39, was booked into the Oklahoma County jail Friday afternoon on a peeping tom complaint. Bond was set at $251,000.
Alden was arrested by Nichols Hills Police last Wednesday on four counts of unlawful use of a computer, and one count each of peeping tom, child pornography possession and manufacturing child pornography.
The Nichols Hills Police Department started its investigation on October 18, after receiving a call that a family near the 1500 block of Camden Way had 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, a state-licensed security systems technician, 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,” said Nichols Hills Police Chief Steven Cox 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 the 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.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Alden installed the Oklahoma City home’s security system over the summer, but came back in September after offering the homeowner free glass break sensors “he wanted to try out in her residence.”
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.
“We haven’t seen any evidence of (a larger network) at this time. But that’s obviously something that we’re looking in to,” Cox said. “If there are any other leads that take us to other individuals, we’ll be pursuing that as well.”
Police have seized six cell phones and six computer towers and laptops from Alden’s home. When asked how many pictures and videos were on his computers, the arrest warrant affidavit said Alden “stated it was massive.”
