BOONE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) - Spying on students as they shower. An Appalachian State University employee is now facing 'secret peeping' charges after using his phone to watch girls in the bathroom of an all-female residence hall, according to police.
It's certainly a very traumatic event for the students who live at Eggers Hall. Many girls are even moving out.
FOX 46 spoke exclusively to the student who actually found the phone in a vent above her shower.
"I kind of stood there and was in shock of what I just saw," said Eggers Resident Sarah Sells. "I'm like, there's no way I just saw a camera in the vent, you know."
A phone in the vent was the last thing Sells expected to spot during her morning shower.
"I pay to feel safe and I pay to live here," she said. "I don't expect this kind of stuff to happen to me or anyone."
What was supposed to be part of her normal morning routine turned into an absolute nightmare.
"When I go shower now, I don't feel the same," she said. "It's just different. I feel uncomfortable, honestly."
She looked up on a Friday morning and noticed the most unsettling sight possible while bathing in her dorm bathroom. There was a phone recording from an open vent above.
"I didn't suspect a thing and I look up and see a phone," she said. "I didn't hear anything in that closet beforehand, until after I saw it and heard rummaging behind the wall."
The phone she spotted belongs to 49-year-old Jerry McGlamery. He's an Appalachian State facilities operations employee. He's accused of using his mobile phone in the third-floor bathroom vent to spy on students.
"I definitely feel very uncomfortable," said Eggers Resident Jordan Baines. "Because I don't know if I'm on there or not."
"It's not a very good first-year 'hurrah' kind of thing," said Eggers Resident Autumn Ash. "It's very scary to know that if one person could do this, anyone else could at any time."
Eggers Hall Residents no longer feel safe in their own living space.
"They're not telling people who is on there," said Baines. "So, I could be on there and not know it. We don't know what's been done with them, they could be on the internet or anywhere. I feel very unsafe."
"Opting in to have an all-female dorm and random men being there is very scary," said Ash. "Especially now that people are recording us."
As for Sarah, she hopes her dark discovery may have saved other students from the pain and fear she's now feeling. "I hate that it was me," she said. "But I'm also glad it was me, because maybe some other girl wouldn't have seen it."
Sarah says she does plan on pressing charges.
Counseling services have been made available to the students who live at Eggers Hall and were impacted.
The open vent has since been closed up, and the ventilation system was inspected.
McGlamery has been placed on investigatory leave pending the continuing APD investigation. He has not worked on campus since Oct. 15 and is not permitted to return to campus.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact App State’s police department at 828-262-8000 or police@appstate.edu.
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