Surf Instructor Charged Over Hidden Camera in Herzelia Changing Rooms

A 44-year-old surfing instructor from Herzliya was indicted on Monday in Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for indecent acts and invasion of privacy, after prosecutors said he hid a GoPro camera in a surf club changing area and filmed a female member showering and dressing without her knowledge or consent.

According to the indictment, the instructor placed the hidden camera in the shared locker rooms after a surfing lesson, before he and the complainant entered the area. The changing facility included showers and private cubicles. Prosecutors said he activated the device and aimed it toward people using the shower area, with the intent to film the woman and himself while showering nearby “for sexual arousal, gratification or humiliation,” and deliberately violated her privacy by filming her in a private setting.

Separately, police and the court also dealt with another suspect, Gur Levy, who was arrested after allegedly peeping and filming women in fitting rooms at the Bershka store in the TLV Mall. On Monday, the court extended his remand by four more days. Levy admitted in questioning that he had filmed and said he had no real explanation for his behavior, adding that he did it for momentary gratification and could not say how many women he harassed.

Police say Levy is suspected of rape, invasion of privacy, photographing in a private place, publishing humiliating images and sexual harassment. Judge Ravit Peleg Bar Dayan said the reasonable suspicion against him had strengthened since the previous hearing, except for the allegation of publishing the images. Investigators also said Levy changed key parts of his account, including drug use, saying he later admitted using ketamine and cocaine, that both he and the complainant used drugs in a bar restroom, and that he later acknowledged jointly obtaining and holding the drugs, as well as initiating shared alcohol consumption at his apartment.