Orem couple charged with using drone to peep in windows

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OREM — A couple have been charged with using a drone to peep inside the windows of Orem residents.

In December, Orem police announced they had recovered a drone that was being used for voyeurism. Investigators found "several videos of looking into people's bathrooms and people's bedrooms" after examining the material stored on the drone, according to police.

The drone was turned over to officers by a man who heard it flying outside his window on Dec. 3 and followed it until it landed in a parking lot. When no one came to retrieve it, the man took the drone home.

"The citizen who located the drone was familiar with drones and had a similar one himself," according to a search warrant unsealed Tuesday in 4th District Court. "There (were) multiple videos recording individuals inside their residences through windows. Some of the recordings were multiple stories high in apartment complexes."

Included in some of the videos were images of the drone operator himself and a vehicle, police say. "Officers were able to identify the truck in the videos and able to locate the registered owner, Aaron Foote," the warrant states.

At the the time the warrant was served, investigators were looking at whether there were any violations for violating federal air space, according to the warrant. As of Tuesday, no federal charges have been filed in the case.

When the drone was recovered, police announced they knew who the owner was and encouraged him to turn himself in. "Turn yourself in before we have to come knocking at your door, maybe on Christmas morning, with a warrant," the department posted on its Facebook page. On Jan. 19, Aaron Dennis Foote, 39, of Orem, and Terisha Lee Norviel, 34, were charged in 4th District Court with voyeurism by electronic equipment, a class A misdemeanor. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 3.

Foote has been charged several times with burglary and theft, according to state court records. Most recently, he was charged in September with felony theft and burglary in 4th District Court. He was arrested for allegedly assaulting Norviel in a domestic violence case in August, according to a police report. In 2007, he was charged with voyeurism for an alleged incident at a tanning salon.