A man is accused of secretly recording gym members in the men’s locker room at LA Fitness in Farmington and police said the arrest comes amid an investigation into similar allegations in South Windsor.
Antonio Selby, 26, of Manchester, turned himself in Friday on a warrant charging him with nine counts of voyeurism with malice, according to Farmington police.
They said the arrest comes after an investigation into illegal videos taken inside the men’s locker room at LA Fitness at 1600 Southeast Road in Farmington.
In August, Selby was arrested, accused of recording men in the locker room of LA Fitness on Buckland Road in South Windsor.
The investigation into Selby began in August when South Windsor Police said they were called to the LA Fitness in their town for a voyeurism complaint. According to the arrest warrant, an employee there "said that a member of the gym reported that a male, later identified as Antonio Devante Selby ... set up a phone to record in the men's locker room." The employee said "that this was the second time Selby had been caught recording in the men's locker room, but LA Fitness did not take action, nor call the police the last time it occurred."
The employee told police that when he went to the men's locker room to investigate, a locker was open and "there was a backpack in the locker with an I-phone (sic) propped in one of the pockets so that it faced outward." The employee said he "looked at the I-phone (sic) and saw that it had been recording for about 9 minutes."
According to the arrest warrant, Selby admitted to South Windsor Police that he had recorded in the LA Fitness locker room but that he had not shared the videos with anyone. In the paperwork it says "Selby admitted that he was embarrassed. Selby said that he recently became interested in voyeurism and that watching voyeurism pornography on the Internet was not the same."
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Paperwork says a forensic report for Selby's phone revealed that he began allegedly recording men in the LA Fitness locker room in July of 2019. It goes on to say that "Selby either positioned his phone in a locker to face outward, positioned it on a bench or counter facing the locker room/shower area or Selby physically held the phone and recorded the male victims."
A South Windsor Police officer reported that the GPS data on the videos revealed that they'd been taken at three LA Fitness locations: South Windsor, Farmington, and Springfield.
The arrest warrant accuses Selby of recording 18 separate videos with 21 victims "in various stages of undress or nudity" at the South Windsor location and that screenshots taken from the videos of naked men were on his phone. It says investigators located 7 videos recorded in August containing 9 victims at the Farmington LA Fitness locker room and 1 video containing 2 victims at the Springfield, MA LA Fitness.
Farmington Police said they were notified in October by South Windsor Police that recordings had allegedly happened at the Farmington LA Fitness. In court paperwork, a Farmington police detective reported that after attempting to reach Selby to speak to him, Selby's attorney responded saying "Selby was going to 'pass' on speaking" with the detective.
In the court documents, police say that Farmington LA Fitness and Springfield LA Fitness reported Selby never "scanned in" to their locations. An officer notes that the Springfield staff was sure he'd visited that location because they recognized him. For the Farmington location, the officer noted that "it was possible that Selby went in the Farmington gym without scanning his membership card."
According to the arrest warrant, Farmington Police looked at the videos allegedly taken at the Farmington LA Fitness and that "Selby was seen on six of the seven videos which confirmed that he was the suspect who recorded the voyeuristic videos. The evidence confirmed that Selby recorded nine male victims buttocks and/or penis in seven separate videos at the Farmington LA Fitness on three separate dates."
NBC Connecticut reached out to Selby's attorney for a statement but she declined to give one.
NBC Connecticut reached out to LA Fitness but did not hear back. The arrest warrant does mention that Selby's membership has been canceled.
