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DEKALB COUNTY, GA–DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by guilty plea in the case against a Lithonia man charged with using his cell phone to take photos and videos of women without their knowledge.
On Wednesday, March 12, Jesse William Kirk, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of Using/Installing a Device to Observe or Record Underneath or Through an Individual’s Clothing and one count of Peeping Tom in connection with incidents in Brookhaven in 2019 and 2023.
According to the investigation, officers with the Brookhaven Police Department responded to a call about suspicious activity at the Costco on Brookhaven Avenue on July 23, 2019. When they arrived, police met with a male employee who reported a man had possibly been taking upskirt photos of a female customer. Store surveillance video showed Defendant Kirk used his phone to take a photo of the woman’s buttocks underneath her dress when she bent forward while shopping.
After reviewing the surveillance video, investigators discovered it also showed Kirk followed a second female customer inside the store who was wearing a skirt. The footage captured Kirk as he placed his phone under her skirt and appeared to take a photo.
Management at the store was able to help police identify Kirk because he had filled up his truck at the Costco gas pumps just before going inside the store. Investigators looked up the truck’s license plate and found the vehicle registered to the Kirk family. Detectives pulled a photo of Kirk that matched the man seen on the surveillance video. Police also learned Kirk was listed on the Sex Offender Registry.
Officers arrested Kirk, who denied taking photos. However, the District Attorney’s Office’s Digital Forensics Unit executed a warrant on Kirk’s phone and matched photos from the phone to the Costco incidents.
In April 2023, officers with the Newnan Police Department arrested Kirk for a similar incident in the dressing room at a Target store. Investigators there obtained a warrant to search Kirk’s phone and discovered more photos of women taken without their permission.
Detectives also found three videos on the phone of a woman only partially dressed inside her apartment. The videos appeared to be taken from the woman’s apartment balcony without her knowledge. Investigators determined the location where the videos were recorded and went to the apartment complex in DeKalb County. They spoke to the woman who confirmed she was the one in the videos and did not know Kirk. Warrants were issued for Kirk’s arrest, and he was extradited to DeKalb County from Montana where he was in prison.
The case in Coweta County is still pending.
Immediately following the guilty plea, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Brian Lake, sentenced Kirk to 15 years to serve 8 in confinement and the balance on probation.
The case, assigned to the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Garrett Emmons, with assistance from Digital Forensics Analyst Cathy Barcroft, District Attorney Investigator Jennifer Alaedu and Victim Advocate Ashley King. Brookhaven Police Department Detective L. Howard led the initial investigation.