Police: Monroeville man taped phone to shoe to take 'upskirt' photos at Murrysville Sheetz store
Oct. 27—A Monroeville man is accused of taping a smartphone to his shoe to take inappropriate photos and videos under two women's skirts at a Murrysville Sheetz, police said.
Brandon Scott Bass was charged after a monthlong investigation into a Sept. 27 incident at the Route 22 convenience store where a woman reported a man "aggressively" bumped into her and she noticed he had a cellphone taped on his right shoe. He was also charged with a second incident after investigators seized his cellphone and discovered an earlier video of another woman taken Sept. 9 at the same store.
"She thought it was strange when she noticed he had a cellphone taped to his shoe and thinks he may have been taking a video under her skirt," Murrysville Officer Anthony Talamo wrote in police reports.
Bass bumped into the woman as he placed his camera-strapped foot between her feet as she waited at a table for a food order, Talamo reported.
The woman told police Bass apologized to her, went to pick up his food order and then fled the store after she asked whether he was taking inappropriate photographs.
A customer in the store yelled at Bass about the incident when he saw the camera taped to his shoe, and video showed Bass fleeing in a 2005 white Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Store surveillance video captured the truck's license plate, which allowed police to identify Bass.
During an interview at the police station, Bass denied taking inappropriate photographs.
"I accidentally bumped into the lady, apologized and moved on," Bass told Talamo, according to court papers.
Bass also referenced being confronted by the customer about possibly "upskirting" the victim, which he denied doing, Talamo reported.
"... the pants I had on have big holes in the pockets where my cellphone will fall through. I had no intentions of doing anything, or did anything, like that," Bass told Talamo, according to court documents.
Talamo confiscated Bass' iPhone, which was analyzed by the state attorney general's office after police obtained a search warrant. Agents discovered during the analysis a file labelled "Murrysville" that showed inappropriate photographs of a second woman, police said.
Police said the Sept. 9 case filed shows Bass manipulating the angle of the cellphone taped to his shoe in the store immediately before the inappropriate video was taken. Police interviewed the woman after identifying her from store surveillance photographs.
"The victim was very upset and gasped at the sight of the video," an investigator wrote in court papers.
The complaints were sent via mailed summons.
Bass has a preliminary hearing on both complaints scheduled Nov. 23. His private attorney, Patrick Thomassey of Monroeville, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@triblive.com or via Twitter .
