TYLER, Texas — A Tyler employer has been sentenced to four years' deferred adjudication after pleading guilty to using a video camera to record an employee as she changed clothes in the workplace bathroom.
Michael Blundell, 48, of Bullard, was charged with invasive visual recording October 2021. He was later indicted last November and entered a guilty plea on Wednesday, according to Smith County judicial records.
Following his guilty plea, Blundell was sentenced to four years of deferred adjudication probation, records show.
An employee reported to Tyler police she found a small camera next to the toilet on the floor of the bathroom she used to change into and out of scrubs for work, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
She took the camera, and Blundell claimed he placed the camera in the bathroom because employees were stealing from the company, the affidavit stated.
The worker told police Blundell asked her to come work one day, and she noticed Blundell took longer than what she expected for him to open the door. He gave her a pair of scrub pants to try on. She showed him how the pants fit, and she went back to change into her regular clothes, according to the document.
When later she went to use the restroom, she found a small camera near the toilet. She left and took the camera with her. She told police Blundell said there was a misunderstanding and he put the camera in the bathroom due to employee thefts, the affidavit read.
The detective found 11 videos on the camera, including ones showing Blundell and the bathroom where the employee found it.
He denied recording in the bathroom without others’ knowledge before the incident. He confirmed it was him seen in one of the videos installing the camera near the toilet, the affidavit read.