A California woman has launched a social media hunt for a man she says secretly filmed her inside a Nordstrom dressing room before managing to slip away from the mall.
Watch on TikTok
Sophia Schades said she was changing at the Nordstrom at Cerritos Mall on July 21 when she noticed a camera concealed inside a black shirt on the floor of a neighboring dressing room.
She immediately confronted him.
“I know you’re recording me,” she can be heard telling him.
Schades quickly grabbed her own phone and started recording as the man, wearing a red shirt and black boots, stepped out and hid his face behind a black shirt.
He denied he recorded her, even as Schades claimed she had caught his actions on camera.
“I told the Nordstrom attendants that I wanted to press charges,” she said.
Police were called, and according to Schades, the man was trailed as he left the store while they waited for officers to arrive.
She recalled being assured that mall security would keep eyes on him, but by the time police showed up, he had managed to slip away.
Schades gave authorities a statement, and the Cerritos Sheriff’s Department confirmed to the California Post that a report was filed and a detective has since been assigned to the case.
Unable to identify him through official channels, Schades took action online.
With the man still not publicly identified, Schades took matters online, posting footage of the dressing room encounter and asking social media users to help unmask the peeping Tom.
Her online plea seems to have sparked a promising lead. In a pinned Instagram comment, Schades told followers she believes she has a name, but clarified it is not any of those circulating in public comments.
“Hey everyone, I’m going to pin this as I have an update. I believe I have a name, but it is not any of the names in the comments, so I am going to delete those in order to protect the innocent people,” she wrote.
“I am not going public with the name yet, as I need to confirm with the police due to defamation laws. Thank you, everyone, for your continued support, help, and kind messages.
“I couldn’t have done this on my own, and I am beyond grateful for everyone who has helped in any type of way! I promise to give an update once I can confirm that the name I have is the correct one!”
A second woman came forward with her own troubling allegation.
Her post also triggered another unsettling accusation. Schades revealed an anonymous message from a woman who claimed the same man had targeted her while shopping with her daughter at Montclair Plaza just a week before.
The second woman alleged he wandered in and out of fitting rooms in several stores, acting suspiciously, though her story has not been independently verified.
In the viral moment captured on video at Cerritos Mall’s Nordstrom on July 21, Schades was trying on clothes in a dressing room when she spotted what appeared to be a black shirt on the floor of an adjacent stall. Upon closer inspection, she realized a camera had been hidden inside it, pointing toward her area. She confronted the man immediately, demanding to know if he was recording her, while he denied her allegations and attempted to hide his face as he exited the dressing room. Schades used her phone to film him as he fled, providing security and police with video evidence of what had happened. Despite her efforts to keep him contained while waiting for law enforcement, he managed to escape from the store and the mall before officers arrived, leaving only the footage and a police report as leads in the case.
The case remains under investigation by the Cerritos Sheriff’s Department.