NEWPORT – Police arrested a 38-year-old Billings, Mont. man this week on four charges of burglary and invasion of privacy after he was recorded on a motel’s security cameras sticking a small camera under room doors of guests.
Saben McKinnon is being held in the Lincoln County jail on $200,000 bail with a preliminary court hearing scheduled Wednesday.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County circuit court, Newport Officer Jerrod Eshleman said the manager of the Holiday Inn Express reported Sept. 14 that while reviewing security camera footage saw a man later identified as McKinnon using his cell phone and a small device to slip under doors to record people inside.
Police said McKinnon was visiting Newport over the weekend while attending a two-week forestry conference in Corvallis
Eshleman and a Newport detective contacted McKinnon on Tuesday in Corvallis where he admitted using his camera to look into motel rooms in Newport and Corvallis. “He advised that he has done the same thing in other states while on different trips,” the court affidavit said.
The irony is off the charts. Caught on camera, using a camera. Camception!