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OGDEN — A former civilian employee of the Weber County Sheriff's Office has been formally charged with placing hidden cameras in a bathroom to record a young girl.
Marc Ray Swain, 47, was charged Wednesday in 2nd District Court with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, as well as attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of voyeurism, both third-degree felonies.
Swain was a Weber-Metro crime scene investigator when he was arrested in January and accused of spying on a girl. A CSI member is not a sworn law enforcer.
After the girl found the suspected recording device, she told her mother who confronted Swain. Swain "said it was a flash drive that he had accidentally dropped in the bathroom" but the mother noted "that the positioning of the flash drive made her believe it could not have been an accident," according to charging documents. After examining the device, the mother "confirmed the device was a flash drive with a built in camera lens on the bottom of the drive," the charges state.
She told police that Swain "had a pornography problem and after researching the device, she discovered that it was indeed a recording device," the charges state.
Related:
Weber investigator arrested after secret recording device discovered, police say
A Weber Metro Crime Scene Investigator was arrested and booked into Davis County Jail on Wednesday on suspicion of three counts of voyeurism committed against a child under 14 years of age.When interviewed by police, the girl told investigators that she had noticed the same device in the bathroom on three occasions, according to the charges.
When he was arrested, Swain stated that "he had seen a lot of negative things and that was a causal factor in his behavior," the charges state.
A police affidavit filed after his arrest further noted that Swain acknowledged "he knew he had made a poor decision. Marc admitted that there were three separate occasions where he strategically placed the recording device in the bathroom."
According to a search warrant affidavit, Swain was fired after his arrest. Layton police investigated the case and Davis County will prosecute it to avoid any conflict of interest in Weber County.
