Investigation takes new turn: suspect who filmed influencer naked in TLV Mall fitting room also questioned over rape allegation

A dramatic development has unfolded in the investigation of the suspect who was arrested last night, Wednesday, on suspicion of an indecent act and invasion of privacy at TLV Mall in Tel Aviv. During the night, after the suspect’s photo was published and following further investigative steps, another complaint was received at the Lev Tel Aviv station in the Yarkon district against him, this time on suspicion of rape. The suspect, a 25-year-old Tel Aviv resident, was also questioned overnight over the new suspicion, and police stress that these are two separate incidents being investigated in parallel. Today, police are expected to bring him to court and seek to extend his remand both on suspicion of rape and on suspicion of invasion of privacy and an indecent act.

As first reported by Walla, the investigation began after a complaint from a young woman who said that while she was trying on clothes in a fitting room at a Bershka store in TLV Mall, she noticed an iPhone being raised over the side of the booth while she was naked. “I saw an iPhone above the booth when I was naked,” the complainant told Walla. According to her, she immediately shouted and confronted the man, whom she said was standing in the adjacent booth, but he denied the act and even offered to let her inspect his phone. “I told him he had probably already deleted the pictures,” she recounted.

She also said that after leaving the fitting room she tried to find the security guard, but was told he had gone out for a smoke, and in the meantime the suspect had already left the area. “I’m sure I’m not the only one,” she told Walla, expressing concern that other women may have fallen victim to similar acts. Following the complaint, the Lev Tel Aviv station opened an investigation during which various findings were collected. Police later published the suspect’s photo and appealed to the public for assistance in locating him. Last night the suspect was arrested and transferred for questioning at the police station, and at the end of the interrogation he was jailed. However, during the night, after his photo was published, another complaint was received on suspicion of rape, and he was questioned about that as well. The investigation is now proceeding on two separate tracks, one concerning suspicion of invasion of privacy and an indecent act allegedly stemming from the incident at TLV Mall, and the other concerning rape suspicion based on the new complaint received after his arrest. Police are expected to ask the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court today to extend his remand to continue the investigation.