No Bond for Man Police Say Secretly Recorded Ellicott City Women

A Columbia man who police say secretly taped two women in their Ellicott City home is being held in the Howard County Detention Center. 

Michael Stephen McKenny was being held on $100,000 bond after his arrest on the evening of Friday, Oct. 19. At a bail review hearing Monday, District Court Judge Mary C. Reese ordered McKenny to be held without bond after Howard County Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Vaira cited the him as “a serious risk to public safety, the disturbing nature of the charges, and his prior criminal record,” according to Howard County State’s Attorney spokesperson Wayne Kirwan. 

According to charging documents, a 29-year-old Ellicott City woman contacted police on Sept. 4 and said she found a hidden camera in her bedroom that was focused on her bathroom.

During the investigation, police determined that the camera had a motion sensor that began recording once it detected movement. According to the charging document, the camera had recorded the 29-year-old and her 30-year-old roommate in the bedrooms and bathrooms of their Montgomery Run Road condominium. Both women said they had not given McKinney permission to record them.

According to the time stamps on the videos, police determined that the suspect first entered the condo on June 26. He returned at least four times to move the camera from a bedroom to a closet, and again to move the camera to a higher position in the closet, aimed at the bathroom, according to the charging document.

The camera also had footage of a man whom police could not identify during the initial investigation. On Thursday, Oct. 18, police released video footage of the suspect to the media. The next night, McKenny.

He was charged with visual surveillance with prurient intent, camera surveillance, and burglary.

Related articles:

- Police: Man Secretly Videotaped 2 Ellicott City Women

- Police Arrest Suspected 'Peeping Tom'

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This story has been edited.