The man accused of filming men in the bathroom of Starbucks on Albany Avenue in West Hartford made a brief appearance in court on Thursday and his case has been continued until Sept. 12.
Paul Deveau, 51, of Hartford, admitted to placing a camera there several times, as well as in other men’s bathrooms, and apologized for it, according to the recently released court documents.
He is being represented by Hope Seely, a prominent Hartford attorney who represented Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel and Alex Kelly, a wealthy Darien wrestler convicted of rape after fleeing to Europe. He served a prison sentence and has since been released.
Deveau was charged with 12 counts of voyeurism.
According to court documents, one video file showed a man adjust the camera, which was pointed at the toilet in an open bathroom with no stall and police used that to identify a suspect.
Police arrested Deveau on July 27, after Starbucks employees identified the man in the file as “Paul,” a frequent customer who works as a graphic designer at Hartford Hospital, according to court documents.
Deveau told police he was gay and would hide cameras in men’s rooms, not women’s rooms, according to court documents. He admitted to placing hidden cameras in the Starbucks men’s room “between 10 and 20 times” as well as in the men’s rooms at a Starbucks at 852 Cottage Grove Road in Bloomfield, a Route 66 gas station in Hebron and the Subway sandwich shop at 932 Farmington Ave.
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When police went to Deveau’s home, he pointed out four laptops, several CDs, three iPhones, two desktop computers and an external hard drive that he said would or could have illegal videos or images on them, the paperwork states. He also told police that one computer once had images or videos that could be considered child pornography, but he deleted them a while ago, the report states.
Police began investigating after a Starbucks’ customer found the camera under the men’s room sink.
