He's reportedly an award-winning Internet voyeur, but a Maryland bathroom tile installer is facing wiretapping charges for allegedly installing a little something extra into a friendly bathroom...a videocam.
Facing charges under the same Maryland law by which former government official Linda Tripp faces prosecution, Thomas P. Diebler can't yet be charged for the video evidence itself, because Maryland's new video voyeurism law doesn't take effect until 1 October.
APBOnline.com, an online news wire devoted to police stories, says a woman whose family considered Diebler a friend discovered "wires in a pile of towels" when coming out of the shower in mid-June, followed the wires to a drawer behind a bath cabinet, and discovered a videocam aimed to record images "of her and anyone else coming out of the shower."
The camera also, apparently, caught Diebler himself on videotape, showing him at the house that day to set the camera up. The family is said to be shocked but relieved over Diebler's arrest.
Authorities here say Diebler has been a practicing video voyeur for at least four years, downloading images from his videotapes and submitting them to Web voyeurism sites, even winning a second prize from one such site. His home computer and video and other taping equipment was seized.
He's also charged with obstruction of justice and telephone misuse, based on charges he threatened an Anne Arundel County state attorney's office investigator during the probe.
Diebler's being held without bail at Anne Arundel County jail. He was also ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
