Zachary Butler: ExxonMobil employee took dozens of 'upskirt' images of female coworkers over a year
SPRING, TEXAS: A former ExxonMobil worker in Texas is facing charges after being accused of taking "upskirt" pictures of his female co-workers. According to Mark Herman of Precinct 4 of the Harris County Constable's Office, Zachary Butler, 30, allegedly accompanied female coworkers at the ExxonMobil site in Spring, Texas on walks and insisted they use the stairs rather than the elevator while taking the photographs.
Employees who work for Butler claimed that he had been photographing them in their "upskirts" for more than a year.
He’s accused of recording women from about July 2020 through October 2021, according to court records.
“After obtaining evidence from the suspect’s phone, Constable Investigators filed two warrants for State Jail Felony Invasive Visual Recording,” the law enforcement agency posted about the case on Facebook.
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According to a probable cause statement, the company's global security team launched an inquiry after receiving complaints about Butler's behaviour from two female employees. Butler reportedly initially refuted the accusations, but after complaints were made, ExxonMobil investigators were granted access to his phone and discovered a vault containing 35 images and 25 videos of "upskirt" recordings, according to KPRC-TV.
Authorities claim that the "Private Photo Vault" app was previously installed on Butler's phone but then uninstalled on August 8, 2021. The photos were discovered on this app, and it also featured videos in which Butler appeared to have hidden his phone's camera under the hemlines of women's skirts and dresses in order to take pictures of their genitalia.
As per officials, “Butler admitted to taking upskirt videos of several of his coworkers” to the security advisors. According to court documents, investigators discovered that Butler routinely asked female coworkers to accompany him when he went to get coffee or go for a stroll after spending a lot of time sitting down. He reportedly suggested frequently during the walks that he and his female coworkers take a flight of enclosed stairs rather than the elevator.
“(Officials) learned that female employees were generally more comfortable taking the interior stairs whenever they were wearing skirts because the other stairs on campus and the elevators were transparent glass and could have caused them to be inadvertently exposed to others,” authorities said, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
According to court filings, one of the female employees claimed she had felt something brush the back of her legs beneath the hem of her dress or skirt while walking with Butler. She now thinks it was his phone, with the camera pointed towards her genitals.
According to reports, the videos were modified to include slow motion and an audio track.
On November 11, Butler was arrested and taken to the Harris County Jail with a $30,000 bond which he apparently made. “The company condemns these actions,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson told McClatchy News. “We have a zero tolerance policy of any form of harassment in the workplace.”