VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A man accused of video voyeurism on young girls between the ages of 5 and 8 at an Orange County Publix was arrested again Thursday for the third time.
Irwin turned himself into Volusia County Jail and quickly bonded out, but a condition of his bond is that he is not allowed to step foot inside a grocery store.
Detectives said the suspect denied the allegations when he was interviewed.
“When I asked him if he still had the video on his phone, he said he already deleted it, so that's an admission in my book,” Orlando police Det. Rick Salcedo said. “He said that he had no excuse for it, but he said he was a sex addict (and) that's the reason why he did this.”
A witness told police that Scott Irwin was inside the Baldwin Park Publix in early February, making video recordings of young girls. The witness said Irwin placed his cellphone inside a hand basket, lowered it under a young girl’s jean shorts and then looked at the phone after walking past her.
The witness said Irwin, 27, followed another young girl wearing a black skirt and performed the same action.
The witness said he reported the incident to employees, who started to follow Irwin. The witness said it appeared that Irwin got scared, emptied his basket and left the store. An employee told officer he saw Irwin leaving Publix in a gray Nissan pickup truck.
"Because of that customer who reported this, he was key to this entire investigation. Had he not reported this to the manager, we wouldn't be here right now," Salcedo said.
The same witness went to the store a few weeks later and said he saw Irwin enter again. He said he saw Irwin following a teenage girl between 13 and 15 years old, wearing a tennis skirt. The witness didn't see Irwin record the girl, but saw that he had passed her and was looking at his phone.
The witness told the store manager, who followed the suspect to his car and wrote down the license plate number.
Previous story: Man accused of recording up girls' skirts at Publix bonds out of jail
A store manager reviewed surveillance video and said he saw Irwin placing the hand basket under the girl’s skirt while walking past her. He said he contacted authorities.
"I would be concerned if I had a young child out there cause that is (who) he is targeting, young children,” Salcedo said.
Based on witness descriptions, authorities put together a lineup of possible suspects. Officers said the witness identified Irwin as the suspect. %
%
Officers obtained surveillance video from the first incident in February and met with the potential victim’s mother, who positively identified her daughter in the video.
"She was extremely upset about it and so was her husband. They had no idea this happened. They heard it in the news, but not many people thought they would be victimized themselves,” Salcedo said.
Investigators believe this was only the first time Irwin was caught and that there are more victims.
Contact Jeff Levkulich for more on this story.