Transgender woman pleads guilty to videotaping teen in Target dressing room
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IDAHO FALLS — A transgender woman pleaded guilty to one felony count of video voyeurism Monday and admitted to filming a teenage girl undressing in a Target fitting room.
Shauna Patricia Smith, 46, whose legal name is Sean Patrick Smith, was originally scheduled for a jury trial later this month. But Smith appeared before District Judge Joel Tingey in a Bonneville County courtroom Monday and unexpectedly entered the guilty plea.
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Smith did not enter into a plea agreement so both county prosecutors and Smith’s attorney are free to argue a potential sentence.
Smith was arrested in July after deputies were called to a disturbance at Target on 25th East in Ammon.
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A witness reported that a man, dressed in women’s clothing, had entered a fitting room in the store. The section of the dressing room in the Idaho Falls Target is clearly marked as for women.
Court records show the suspect, later identified as Smith, was seen videotaping a teenager in a stall next to him while she was trying on swimwear.
“The victim’s mother confronted the suspect, who immediately fled on foot. Both (the victim and victim’s mother) described the suspect as a white male who was wearing a dress and a blonde wig. A witness observed the suspect get into a vehicle and leave the area,” court documents state.
A Bonneville County detective tracked down and interviewed Smith, “who eventually admitted that she had made videos in the past of women undressing. The defendant told (the detective) that she makes these videos for the ‘same reason men go online to look at pornography,’” court documents state.
Tingey ordered a pre-sentence investigation before Smith is sentenced in November. He faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.