Charges: Man placed hidden camera inside men’s locker room at Life Time Fitness

A man from Dallas is accused of taking hidden camera photos and videos, many of underage boys, in the men’s locker room at Life Time Fitness in Eden Prairie.

Michael Scott Howard, 50, was charged with two felony counts of interfering with privacy against a minor in Hennepin County District Court. Howard allegedly had 23 video files with 63 unique victims and “significantly more photographs” on his cellphone.

According to court documents:

Police were dispatched June 21 to the Life Time Fitness on Prairie Center Drive in Eden Prairie on a disturbance call. Another guest at the facility had become suspicious when Howard placed one cellphone on a used towel hamper, pointed in the direction of young men changing, and had another phone in his possession.

The guest confronted Howard and pushed the cell phone into the dirty towel bin and guarded the area while police were contacted.

When police retrieved the phone they noticed that it appeared to have a “covert camera” attached to the top that was “professionally installed” and allowed for live streaming and recording.

Police searched the phone and the latest media taken was almost exclusively males in a Life Time Fitness locker room setting. Most of the videos and images were of boys between the ages of 13-18 in various stages of undress and also included a boy who appeared fully nude and was between 5-9 years old.

One of the victims was able to identify himself and another victim in videos from the phone; both were 17 at the time of the recording.

There was also a recording on the phone that was completely black, but the audio was of Howard and the guest who had pushed his phone into the laundry bin arguing before police arrived.

In a statement, Life Time Fitness Senior Vice President Jason Thunstrom wrote, “We find this individual’s alleged actions to be very disturbing. Our established policies, reinforced by signage and our employees, expressly prohibit the use of cellular phones (and other mobile devices) in photographic or video mode in locker rooms and many other areas of our clubs. Upon becoming aware of this matter, we took swift action to terminate the individual’s membership, and began collaborating with authorities in their active investigation.”

The charges allege that Howard lives out of his van and does not have a permanent address. A warrant was requested and he was not in custody as of Monday afternoon.