A North Carolina man has been arrested and charged with felony secret peeping after being caught on camera placing his phone under a woman’s skirt in a Greenville Target on Monday. Prior to his arrest, Thomas Elliott was on staff at Opendoor Church in Winterville and a volunteer at Eastern Elementary School in Greenville.
Elliott, 21, was apprehended after a Target customer noticed that he was behaving suspiciously and began filming him. In a video captured by this Good Samaritan, Elliott can be seen crouching down and placing his phone on the floor beneath the skirt of another female customer.
The Good Samaritan then immediately confronted Elliott, calling upon a Target employee to get law enforcement involved. Elliott was later arrested.
Following a review of store security footage, police said that Elliott may face two additional felony secret peeping charges.
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In a statement to WNCT, Pitt County Schools said that it was alerted to Elliott’s arrest on Monday, adding, “We can confirm that the individual was a volunteer at Eastern Elementary School.”
“We are disturbed and deeply concerned by video footage of the individual that has been shared on social media and news outlets, and based on the footage, the individual will not be returning to our campuses as a volunteer or hired as an employee,” the statement continued.
Pitt County Schools said that Elliott had passed a background check before being allowed to volunteer at the school.
Similarly, Megan Holland, lead pastor of communications at Opendoor Church, told WNCT, “Safety and security are of utmost importance to us. We are taking this situation extremely seriously. Thomas Elliott was immediately terminated upon notification of his arrest on Monday.”
“Additionally, he is no longer permitted on our properties,” Holland continued. “We continue to seek God’s wisdom in the aftermath of this situation. We pray for God’s healing and redemption for all those affected.”
The church did not disclose what role Elliott had served in prior to his termination.
