UPDATE: This story has been updated with new details from Donald Hemphill’s arrest affidavit, including how the hidden camera was discovered and what investigators found during their search.
A New Smyrna Beach doggy daycare owner was arrested Monday after employees discovered a hidden camera inside the facility’s restroom.
Donald Alan Hemphill, 59, is facing 10 counts of video voyeurism and 11 counts of video voyeurism involving a child. He is accused of secretly recording women while they were undressing in the restroom, including a minor.
Dog Dayz Inn operates out of Hemphill’s residence on Edgewater Canal Road, according to an arrest affidavit. The bathroom where the camera was allegedly hidden is inside the home and connected to the main living area.
According to the affidavit, Hemphill asked an employee Sunday to use the business iPhone to photograph a dog’s vaccination records. While using the phone, she found an image of her 11-year-old daughter partially nude in the photo gallery.
The employee recognized the bathroom at Dog Dayz Inn as the apparent location of the image and went inside to investigate. After looking at the angle from which the image appeared to have been taken, she noticed what appeared to be a camera lens in the bottom opening of an electrical outlet.
She photographed the outlet and contacted law enforcement, according to the affidavit.
Detectives who responded to the home interviewed Hemphill, who told them he had installed a hidden camera in the bathroom about four to five months ago for this “viewing pleasure,” according to the affidavit. He said the camera was connected to an app on his personal phone.
Investigators later searched the home and found a camera in the bathroom outlet, along with additional covert cameras in Hemphill’s bedroom, according to the affidavit.
A forensic examination of one of the phones seized during the search found 21 videos recorded inside the bathroom. Investigators said the videos showed three women and one child in various stages of undress.
The recordings listed in the affidavit date from May 29 to Sept. 6, one day before Hemphill’s arrest. Ten recordings involved adult women and 11 involved a child younger than 16.
Hemphill was arrested and taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where he was being held without bond Tuesday.
