A judge has denied pretrial release for a Buffalo Grove man who is accused of recording videos of women and two female minors at his ice cream shop, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office and Addison police said Sunday.
Steven Weisberg, 58, of the 300 block of Satinwood Terrace, appeared in court Sunday morning and was charged with two counts of child pornography, a Class X felony, the most severe category of its kind in Illinois, and two counts of unauthorized video recording, a Class 3 felony.
Weisberg was arrested Friday following an investigation that began in early August, when the Addison Police Department received an anonymous complaint of “suspicious activity” at Flavor Frenzy, an ice cream shop at 48 W. Lake St. in Addison, according to the news release. The complaint, police said, was about “what appeared to be a fake wall electrical outlet in the shop’s restroom.” An undercover officer went to the locale and reportedly saw an outlet with a small black lens that was “positioned” to capture portions of the restroom, including a urinal.
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Having obtained a search warrant for the place, police officers removed the outlet and discovered it had a camera, authorities said. An investigation into the matter alleged that Weisberg had installed the camera a few years ago, and that he was able to access and save the video footage from the camera on his laptop and cellphone.
A search warrant for the accused’s electronic devices at home and the shop uncovered 11 videos in a folder for deleted media in his phone, showing six different people, according to authorities. At least three of them were female employees at the shop, the news release said. One of them was a 16-year-old who was trying on different Flavor Frenzy T-shirts to model for the business, allegedly at Weisberg’s request, according to prosecutors.
Detectives also allegedly found two additional videos of female employees undressing and who have not been identified yet. One of them is a minor, according to prosecutors and police.
“Mr. Weisberg allegedly falsely created an environment where children should have felt safe and secure,” Addison Chief of Police Roy Selvik said. “Instead, he betrayed not only their trust, but the trust of our entire community in one of the most heinous and disturbing ways.”
According to Addison police, four more female shop employees, all minors, have since reported that Weisberg allegedly asked them to model T-shirts and had told them to remove their bras “so that there was no bra outline in the photos.”
“The allegations against Mr. Weisberg are not only a crime, they are appalling,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the news release. “The alleged secret video recording of these young girls should send a chill down the spine of each and every one of us.”
The Addison Police Department continues its investigation into the matter, and Selvik says it is working to find any additional victims in the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Addison Police Department at 630-543-3080.
Weisberg’s next court appearance is set for Sept. 15 in front of Judge Mia McPherson.