On Monday evening, April 07, video cameras were discovered inside two lockers inside the women’s locker room at RecPlex, one in an upper locker and one in a lower locker. Pleasant Prairie Police arrested 27-year old Melissa A. Wenckebach of Pleasant Prairie, who admitted to placing the cameras, and a 36-year old Waukegan man for being a party to that act.
UPDATE – On Thursday, April 10, 36-year old Karl J. Landt of Waukegan, Illinois was charged with 11 Felony I counts of Capture an Image of Nudity Without Consent in Kenosha County Circuit Court. The criminal complaint indicates that three of the images appear to be juvenile females. At the time of this update, a preliminary hearing has been scheduled to take place on April 17.
Police are continuing a very thorough and sensitive investigation in order: to learn how much video was collected; to learn which areas of the locker room were involved; to learn how the video was used or if it was distributed; and to identify potential victims from the evidence collected.
Investigators have reiterated that this will be a long-term investigation and that they are committed to painstakingly and sensitively reviewing each piece of evidence in order to bring those responsible to justice. Until investigators have been able to review all of the evidence, they will not know with certainty exactly which portions of the women’s locker room have been impacted and in how many locations the cameras had been placed.
As stated in the initial advisory, children involved in the preschool and before or after school programs at RecPlex do not use the women’s locker room, but instead use the family locker room with their class and their teachers. According to information gathered, this act was isolated to the women’s locker room between the months of January and early April (a period of approximately 3 months).
Please be aware that female members with children and other female youth and teenage members do use the women’s locker room. Those who have used the women’s locker room during this time frame have been contacting the hotline established for the case. Investigators would like to encourage those who may have been in the locker room or have had a family member in the locker room to contact the hotline (numbers below).
Every evening when the facility closes, RecPlex staff inspects locker rooms. At this time, any locks left on lockers that are not contracted for long-term rental are cut and the contents of the locker are removed. Any video cameras that would have been present in a locked, unrented locker would have been removed per this policy, which has been in place and in practice for several years. Following this incident, RecPlex has been thoroughly swept for cameras, and no additional devices were found.
RecPlex and Police representatives would like to strongly remind patrons that any time you have concerns related to something you see in the facility, please approach a RecPlex staff member and share your concern so we may investigate accordingly.
If you believe that you have information that could assist in this investigation or you have concerns regarding the invasion of your privacy related to this matter, please contact the Pleasant Prairie Police Department at 262.948.8910 or email [email protected]. As updates become available, they will be shared with media outlets and will be made available at http://pleasantprairieonline.com/services/police/news.asp. Another update is expected during the week of April 14.