A man has been arrested and charged with a variety of offences, after he was connected to a number of incidents where children were recorded in change rooms, which led police to uncover unsafely stored firearms.

Strathcona County RCMP were originally called to a clothing store in Sherwood Park Mall on Dec. 17, after a man was reportedly seen by customers videotaping female patrons, while they were trying on clothes in change rooms.

Police said the parent of a 14-year-old girl noticed what was believed to be a recording device, across from one of the change rooms – before contacting police.

Officers arrived on the scene to find a shopping bag in the change room, with a recording device inside.

RCMP investigated the incident, with help from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, and managed to identify the suspect believed to be behind the recordings.

Investigators found there were believed to be about thirteen different incidents, which took place not only at the Sherwood Park Mall, but also Londonderry Mall in Edmonton – and all on Dec. 17.

However, except for the incident with the teenaged girl in Sherwood Park, all of the women recorded were adult.

The suspect, 27-year-old Joshua Meilleur, of Edmonton, was arrested on Dec. 21.

A search warrant was also executed at his home, where RCMP found a firearm and ammunition that was not stored safely.

As a result, Meilleur is facing 12 counts of voyeurism, and one count each of making child pornography, unsafe storage of a firearm, unsafe storage of ammunition, and unsafe storage of a prohibited firearm magazine.

Police said the accused was released on bail – with a number of conditions including staying at least two blocks away from the Sherwood Park Mall or Londonderry Mall, not to use a computer to contact anyone under 16-years-old, and to not have any handheld device capable of taking digital images.

“It’s a disturbing incident in that when people go to change rooms, whether it’s a clothing [store] change room or any other facility that has an area where people are disrobing,” RCMP Cst. Wally Henry said. “They have that expectation of privacy and security when they’re in there, when that’s compromised such as this situation, that’s taken very seriously.”

Investigators found Meilleur had no link to the stores where the incidents took place – he was posing as a shopper at the time.

Police said they don’t know who the other dozen victims are, but there’s no evidence to suggest the images were forwarded or sent anywhere else – but the investigation is ongoing.

Meilleur attended his first court appearance in Sherwood Park Wednesday; his next appearance has been scheduled for Feb. 13.

As for anyone concerned about their privacy in such situations, RCMP suggest looking around a fitting room for anything suspicious, like holes in the wall, or items laying around – and to contact store staff or police if anything appears to be wrong.

With files from Brenna Rose