Cops: Man planted video device in company bathroom

A former employee of a solar panel installer was arrested Friday after a video recording device was found in the company's employee bathroom, Suffolk County police said.

Michael Evans, 32, of Rocky Point, recorded 12 instances in the bathroom of Trinity Solar in Ronkonkoma between March 7 and March 14, police said. He left the company on April 1, Fifth Precinct detectives said, but he was identified as the culprit because he was caught on surveillance cameras and on the recording device he had planted.

The spying device, plugged into a bathroom outlet, looked like a cellphone charger, police said, and a female employee noticed it March 14. Other employees realized it was a recording device; however, the case was not immediately reported to police, authorities said.

Armed with a search warrant Friday, police entered Evans' Valkyr Road home and arrested him, officials said. He was arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Central Islip on 12 counts of second-degree unlawful surveillance and was ordered held on $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash, the Suffolk County district attorney's office said. His next scheduled court appearance is May 2.

A Trinity Solar official said there was no one available to comment about the arrest Saturday.

With Robert Brodsky