ANDERSON, Ind. – An Anderson man hid cameras at his place of employment and in his home to record women, including minors, in various states of undress, police say.

The investigation into 43-year-old Marcus Deweese Sr. began with a tip from Google about explicit material involving children. He faces nearly 28 preliminary charges involving child exploitation and voyeurism.

In January 2022, Google contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children about more than a dozen images linked to a Gmail account. An investigator with the Fishers Police Department reviewed the tip and confirmed the material was classified as child pornography. The case was assigned to the Hamilton County Child Exploitation Task Force, which handles cases from Madison County.

Deweese used screen capture software to record child sex abuse material from Tumblr, according to court documents. Detectives obtained a warrant to search the Gmail account at the center of the tip. Investigators found more than 400 images of girls and teens saved to the account.

Most of the images involve females between the ages of 9 and 16, police said.

Further investigation found Deweese had made more than 140 recordings of females in various states of undress. The victims were unaware they were being recorded, police said. Deweese, according to court documents, hid cameras in the bathroom at his place of employment and inside different homes where he lived. Court documents don’t indicate where Deweese worked.

Investigators believe he made the recordings between 2016 and 2021.

Police found at least three videos showing Deweese hiding and testing the cameras, which he placed in various locations, including outlets, HVAC events and closets.

In addition to the hidden camera videos, police said Deweese recorded some victims through their windows. To get these videos, Deweese could’ve only been a few feet away to get the footage.

Deweese later told investigators he would park his vehicle around 6 a.m. outside a teen’s home—investigators believe she was 15 at the time of the recordings—and would then “walk on foot to the outside of the window where he would record the victim undressing.”

“The true number of occurrences and victims of the voyeurism is unknown until we complete the digital forensics and look further into his active digital accounts,” according to the probable cause affidavit.

The Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force and members of the Fishers Police Department Special Investigations Division initiated a traffic stop with Deweese on March 23 before executing the warrant to search his home in Anderson.

The search turned up three live hidden cameras. One was a Samsung phone hidden inside a bathroom exhaust fan; it faced down to record the toilet and shower. A spare bedroom included two hidden cameras—one device was a white multi-outlet with hidden camera built in; the other device was a USB charger that had a built-in hidden camera.

During an interview with police, Deweese said he’d lost access to his usual Google account, which had been flagged for “suspicious activity.” The timing lined up with the tip from Google. He created a new Gmail account to store videos and view them remotely, he told police. He kept new voyeurism material in the new account.

Deweese said he first hid a camera in 2016 at a past employer; it was a plug-in multi-outlet with a hidden camera. The camera was not motion activated, he said, and he would “start the cameras when he saw certain individuals head to the restroom.”

According to court documents, Deweese acknowledged he made the recordings because he had “an interest” in the people he recorded and “wanted to see them in a state of undress.” He used the material for sexual gratification, he told investigators.

When asked how many recordings and how much child sex abuse material he had on his Gmail account, Deweese didn’t state an outright number, simply telling investigators he had “a lot,” according to court documents.

Formal charges are pending. The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office asked for additional time to review the case.