CORTLAND, Ohio (WKBN) — Bond was set Friday at $5,000 for a man accused of taking cellphone video of a woman earlier this month in a South High Street grocery store.
Kirk Sackela, 50, of Mineral Ridge, was ordered not to have any contact with the victim, not to come closer than 500 feet of her and to stay off the internet.
Sackela was arraigned via video from the Trumbull County jail in Trumbull County Central District Court before Judge Thomas Campbell. He pleaded not guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of voyeurism.
Sackela was arrested on a warrant Wednesday at a South High Street music store he was working at. He told Judge Campbell this morning he has since lost his job there.
Sackela was picked up at the store just after 5 p.m. on the voyeurism charge, a first-degree misdemeanor, over a complaint that was filed July 18 by a woman saying that Sackela had been taking video of her at a nearby grocery store on South High Street without her permission.
Reports said a woman called police about 7 p.m. July 18 and met an officer at the grocery store, telling the officer that she thought a man was following her around and taking video of her with his cell phone.
The woman told police she could see the light on the man’s phone that shows the video camera is on. Reports said police reviewed surveillance video from inside the store and it shows a man later identified as Sackela following the woman around the store and holding his phone at different angles to get shots under her buttocks and possibly up her shorts, the report stated.
At one point, reports said, the video showed that Sackela got very close to the woman.
After the woman checked out at a register, Sackela could be seen staring at her and went to the lobby. The woman received an escort because she was concerned about being followed. reports said.
Sackela also went to the parking lot, got into his car and drove away. Employees were able to get his license plate number and give it to police, reports said.
Reports said police found a phone number for Sackela and called several times, but he never returned any messages.
Police reviewed the case with prosecutors Wednesday, and shortly after were able to get a warrant.
