Montgomery County

Man Hid Camera in Cheerleading Studio's Bathroom, Police Say

Police say he searched: "i put a spy cmera [sic] illeglly [sic] in bathroom i need a lawyer"

A 21-year-old Montgomery County man was arrested Wednesday after police say he secretly took photos of people inside a Rockville cheerleading studio's bathroom.

Cristian Gill was a gymnastics and cheerleading instructor at Shockwave Allstars studio when police say he installed a small camera inside the studio's unisex bathroom, according to court documents. 

Surveillance footage from the studio showed Gill enter the bathroom Feb. 9. That same day, an employee told the studio's owner that someone left a USB or similar device near the sink of the bathroom. The owner, who was out of town, asked the employee to leave it by the computer.

Surveillance video from the studio showed Gill leaving the building that day; police believe Gill likely took the camera with him.

Three days later, Gill requested a meeting with the owner. During that meeting, Gill gave him the device the other employee had discovered, according to the documents.

Court documents say Gill told the studio's owner that the device was a camera he had placed in a corner of the bathroom but said he never looked at it and never recorded with it. The owner kept the device, asked Gill to leave and contacted police, the documents said. 

Police searched Gill's Rockville home the next day and found a tablet that had 49 pictures on it of juveniles and adults, police said.

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They said 14 of the images were of Gill or likely of Gill. "The other 35 photographs are separate victims," the court documents said.

Photos on the tablet also showed Gill putting the camera in the unisex bathroom, court documents say. Some images showed people sitting on the toilet in the bathroom.

Forensic analysis indicated that there had been more images and videos on the tablet that were deleted, the documents said.

At least three of the people in the recovered photographs were younger than 18 years old, the documents said.

Gill, who had worked at the studio for two years, told police that he had the camera for about two months and he placed it in the bathroom 20 times during that period. He also admitted to taking pictures of women from behind and up their skirts on his phone, court documents state.

Also, police say he set up cameras in his own apartment in an effort to photograph his roommate's girlfriend. 

According to court documents, investigators also searched Gill's iPhone browser history and found searches conducted between Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 that included: "i put a spy cmera [sic] illeglly [sic] in bathroom i need a lawyer," "what happens if you record a public bathroom with a spy cam," "what kind of lawyer do I need" and "max charges of peeping tom act."

Police also found a note on his phone saying, "I'm not a pig or a pervert or anything like that. I'm just a guy who should've gone to college instead of making money and bad decisions." 

Gill was arrested Wednesday and is facing 35 counts of visual surveillance with prurient intent and three counts of sex abuse of a minor. 

Gill was held without bond Wednesday and was due for a bond review Thursday. His preliminary court hearing is set for May 18.

It was not immediately clear if he has an attorney.

The studio said Gill passed a background check when he was hired. They said they're cooperating with police and they care about each child they train as if they were their own.

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