11.5.08 – kfor.com
EDMOND, Okla. – A former security system technician, arrested last month for allegedly placing hidden cameras in at least two metro homes, was accused by a client of taking upskirt photos of her in 2013, News 4 has learned.
Ryan Aaron Alden, 39, was arrested by Nichols Hills Police on October 24 on four counts of unlawful use of a computer and one count each of peeping tom, child pornography possession and manufacturing child pornography.
After his arrest, News 4 discovered Alden was the subject of a criminal complaint filed by an Edmond woman in 2013, according to a police report. The woman said she caught Alden, who was installing a security system in her home, taking upskirt photos of her with his cellphone.
“We were in the kitchen, and I was signing the work order, and he dropped his pen behind me, and it seemed like it took a long time for him to pick up his pen, and I turned around and he had a camera – or a phone – facing up underneath my skirt,” said the woman, who News 4 is not identifying. News 4 does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes without their consent. “I was fearful. I don’t recall mentioning or saying anything to him. I just wanted him out. I went to the door with him, locked the door after he left and I called the alarm company and the police.”
The woman said the security company, Guardian Security Systems, came out to her home and found no cameras inside. The woman filed a report with Edmond police.
Alden was never arrested and no charges were filed as no pictures were found on his phone, Edmond police said.
According to the labor department, Alden has been licensed by the state since July 2003 and was upgraded to a manager license in December 2015. Alden worked at Sound Advice from 2015 until his arrest and worked at another security and alarm company, Guardian Security Systems, dating back to at least 2013.
On Friday, Cheri Fletcher, general counsel for Tulsa-based Guardian Security Systems (which now does business in the state as Alert 360) would not tell News 4 how long Alden worked for the company, only that he “worked for us for several years,” and “authorities haven’t contacted Alert 360” but the company is “willing to cooperate.”
It’s unclear where Alden worked prior to 2013. His license with the state is currently under review.
Nichols Hills started its investigation October 18, after receiving a call that a family in the 1500 block of Camden Way found a camera in the air vent of their teenage daughter’s bedroom. Police eventually found three cameras in the bedroom, bathroom and closet air vents and learned Alden had been working in the home on various installation projects.
“We’ve executed search warrants on the suspect’s home, obtained computers, laptops, cellphones and those are currently being processed,” Nichols Hills Police Chief Steven Cox told News 4 last week. “It’s definitely a possibility (there are more victims). This individual placed cameras inside air conditioning ducts that could have very easily been done at other residences, while he was inside.”
When police interviewed Alden on October 24, he confessed to placing the cameras in the home and said he had viewed the camera footage at various times.
After Alden’s arrest, Sound Advice technicians began checking homes Alden worked in, prioritizing homes by those with attics or children, according to court documents. That led technicians to a home in Oklahoma City’s Musgrave-Pennington neighborhood where they found two separate cameras, one in an 11-year-old child’s bedroom and the home’s sole bathroom.
Alden was arrested in connection to the Oklahoma City case on November 1.
In an interview with police in that case, Alden admitted to installing the two cameras and watching footage from the home as well as taking pictures of women in mall changing rooms and tanning beds, according to court records.
The woman, who filed the police report in Edmond in 2013, said she didn’t remember seeing Alden’s picture in the news reports following his arrest.
“But, my immediate thought when I saw the news story was that I wonder if this is the same guy,” she said.