Crime & Safety
Owner Filmed 11 Employees In Restroom At NJ Clothes Store, Including Minor: Cops
Cops said the owner of a Morris County clothing store had 1,900 videos and images stored from a hidden camera in the employee bathroom.
MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — The Roxbury store owner who filmed employees while they were using the bathroom had about 1,900 photos and videos stored from a hidden camera, according to court documents.
One of the 11 employees that is Nicholas Zirpoli is accused of recording was underage at the time, authorities said.
Officials charged Zirpoli, 35, with hiding a camera within a vent in the employee bathroom at the Plato's Closet resale clothing store in the Ledgewood section of Roxbury and taking photos/videos of the unsuspecting employees. The crimes happened between 2021 and January 2023, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in court.
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The Lincoln Park resident faces a number of charges, including manufacturing child pornography, filming a child in a prohibited sexual act, possessing child pornography, endangering the welfare of a child, and 10 counts of invasion of privacy.
Employees reported to police in February 2023 that there was a hidden camera in the bathroom, court records show. The employees told police that Zirpoli unplugged the camera, took it out of the vent, then took out the SD card and snapped it.
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After obtaining a search warrant on Feb. 27, 2023, police seized 33 items from Zirpoli's home and the Plato's Closet store, including a number of electronic devices and storage devices. Officers found the SD card in Zirpoli's trash can and he admitted to breaking it on purpose, according to the affidavit.
Zirpoli also admitted to having a folder on the computer with saved videos and images, some of which he used for sexual gratification, court documents show.
Officials also seized his iPhone and personal computer, and are continuing to analyze the electronic devices as of Feb. 7.
Zirpoli was released from the Morris County Correctional Facility on Feb. 8 on pre-trial monitoring conditions, officials said.
Anyone with information relating to this investigation is asked to call the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit at 973-285-6200 or the Roxbury Township Police Department at 973-448-2100.
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