In his arrest affidavit, Waterford Police allege that Christopher Gribble – the alleged Crystal Mall peeping Tom – has been spying on people for the past year after being convicted of voyeurism in 2007, that he spied on 19-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl at the mall and that he has a “problem” where he becomes sexually aroused from looking at photos he shoots covertly.
On Monday, Waterford Police arrested Gribble, 40, of Bradford, RI, after allegedly twice spying on people in the Crystal Mall in the month of September. In a court file Patch reviewed Friday, police allege that Gribble signed a paper admitting to his indiscretions and said he has been spying on people since June of 2011.
“(Gribble) further stated that he has a sexually-oriented ‘problem’ with voyeurism and becomes aroused after upon viewing the images he covertly records,” Waterford Police Detective John Davis wrote in an affidavit. “(Gribble) claimed that during his trips to the mall, it was never his original intent to engage in voyeurism, but did admit that he always took his iPod Nano for such purposes, if the opportunity presented itself.”
The Story
On Saturday, September 8th at around 3 p.m., a 19-year-old man was trying on clothes in a changing room in the Crystal Mall (the store was not identified) when he saw a grey sneaker appear underneath the stall door with an iPod Nano attached to the top and the camera on the iPod pointing upwards, according to Davis’ affidavit. The man opened the door and saw a white, 6-foot tall male, who ran out of the store.
The man told the store manager, who told police. Waterford Police Officer Matthew Fedor was sent to the scene, and confirmed what the 19-year-old man said via surveillance footage from the store, according to the affidavit.
Then late in the afternoon on Saturday, September 29th, a 13-year-old girl was shopping with her friend, a 12-year-old girl, at the Crystal Mall. The two girls went into adjacent changing rooms at the mall – again the store was not revealed – when the 13-year-old saw a grey sneaker with an iPod attached on top come underneath the changing room door, according to the affidavit.
The girl, who had her pants off at the time, backed in the corner of the stall and called for her friend to help. The friend came out of her changing room and saw a 6-foot tall white male, who ran off. The girl’s mother did take a call phone photo of the man, but there was no video surveillance at the store, according to the affidavit.
In early October, Waterford Police released a photo of the man to the media, and “that media exposure led to an interview with a white male subject identified as Christopher Gribble,” according to the affidavit. On October 4th, Waterford Police Officer Andrew Farrior and Davis went to interview Gribble at his home in Bradford, RI, and Gribble answered the door wearing the same grey sneakers described by both of the September victims, according to the affidavit.
During the interview, Gribble said he becames sexually aroused by photos he took from spying on people and would download the images onto his home computer. He admitted to taking photos of both of the September victims and then downloading the photos onto his home computer, according to the affidavit.
Gribble was previously convicted for a 2006 incident where he was caught spying on women on the street, according to the affidavit. Gribble said he began to spy on people again in approximately June of 2011, and said he would take voyeuristic photos of about three different people a month, according to the affidavit.
In the affidavit police alleged that Gribble signed a statement admitting to everything printed above, and was arrested for voyeuristic recording of another person, disorderly conduct and risk of injury to a minor on October 15. He is due in New London Superior Court on October 29th.
