A Yosemite National Park worker was charged with trying to video record a law enforcement officer as she showered, according to court records obtained by the San Jose Mercury News.
Michael Patrick Raridan, a maintenance worker in the White Wolf area of Yosemite, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with one count of filming with intent to violate a person’s privacy and one count of committing an obscene act to breach the peace.
The alleged victim was identified as a National Park Service employee and “commissioned federal law enforcement officer,” according to a criminal complaint.
The NPS employee told authorities that she was using a community shower during the evening of July 4 when she noticed a cell phone camera pointed at her while positioned over the side of the shower.
The woman said she shouted and grabbed a towel before getting dressed to chase after the culprit.
With the help of her dog, the NPS employee searched the park grounds and allegedly found Raridan hiding under an NPS vehicle.
She confronted him about filming her in the shower.
“The suspect told (her) ‘he just couldn’t help himself,’ ” an NPS officer wrote in a police report.
Raridan had not yet entered a plea as of Tuesday, the Mercury News reported.
Both charges that Raridan faces are misdemeanors but could cost him a maximum of one year in jail.