West Chester theater student accused of secretly taping dozens of women in bathrooms

A West Chester University student secretly recorded dozens of women in a campus arts center restroom as well as restrooms in area theaters and homes over the last two years, and uploaded at least one video to a website for others to watch, authorities said Tuesday.

Joshua Yannuzzi, 24, was charged with more than 100 counts of crimes including invasion of privacy, wiretap violations, and distribution of obscene materials, according to the Chester County District Attorney's Office.

Yannuzzi, of Honey Brook, has been banned from the university, where he studied musical theater, authorities said. Investigators have tracked down more than 20 women who were recorded, and said there are potentially many more.

Yannuzzi, who actively participated in the West Chester theater community, targeted young women he knew through theater and other activities and surreptitiously taped his smart phone to various surfaces in bathrooms to record them using the toilet, authorities said.

Police began investigating Oct. 10, when a woman using a gender-neutral bathroom at the university's E.O. Bull Center for the Arts noticed a phone was taped to the bottom of the sink and was recording video with an app. She alerted university police, who in turn contacted Chester County Detectives' computer forensic unit.

Investigators traced the phone to Yannuzzi. When questioned by police, he admitted he began filming women in the campus bathroom during the spring of 2018 and made 30 to 50 recordings, authorities said.

In a search of his phone, investigators recovered more than 90 "bathroom voyeurism" videos taken in 10 bathrooms. In addition to the one on campus, Yannuzzi recorded in bathrooms at the Footlighters Theater in Berwyn, Genesius Theatre in Reading, and Street Lamp Productions in Rising Sun, Md., police said. He also is suspected of making recordings in home bathrooms in West Chester, Reading, Philadelphia, and Rehoboth Beach, Del.

According to the criminal complaint, at least 45 of the videos were taken in the arts center bathroom, which has no stalls.

Anyone who lived or worked with Yannuzzi in theater productions could be a potential victim, investigators said, and should contact Chester County Detective Robert Balchunis at 610-344-6866.