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WILKES-BARRE — A Schuylkill County landlord pleaded guilty Thursday to installing hidden cameras that captured a tenant and her 14-year-old son using the bathroom.

Christopher Shenyo, 41, of Brandon Street, Sheppton, admitted to setting up multiple cameras inside an East Beech Street residence he owned in Hazleton, but claimed he only sought to record the mother, not her two minor children because he “is not into children like that,” according to the affidavit.

Shenyo, confronted by investigators at his home in November, maintained he did not view the images.

Investigators discovered the camera, placed under a sink and pointed toward the toilet and shower, had recorded the mother as well as her 14-year-old son as they were nude, the affidavit says. It was unclear if the device captured another child, a 12-year-old female.

The Times Leader is not identifying the mother because the images were of a sexual nature.

According to the affidavit, the mother told investigators she believed Shenyo installed the devices during a visit in which he used the bathroom twice. She said she found it unusual because Shenyo, who had recently started tutoring her children, never used the bathroom while at the residence, let alone twice.

The mother told investigators she called police after she was sitting on the toilet and noticed a black cable sticking out from underneath a cabinet. She said she hesitated to report it because she “did not want to believe that her landlord would have placed a camera in her bathroom.”

Shenyo told investigators he also installed an electronic tablet in the ceiling tiles above the toilet, which took still images and was connected to a neighbor’s wireless Internet router, the affidavit says. The motion-activated tablet sent still pictures to Shenyo’s email and he viewed them on his cell phone, according to the affidavit.

Shenyo added he set up a cell phone in the bathroom closet with similar intentions, but the device was only there for a day.

Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough accepted Shenyo’s plea on one count each of criminal use of a communication facility and photographing/filming/depicting a computer sex act involving a child and scheduled his sentencing for Feb. 3.

Shenyo is free on bail pending sentencing.

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By Joe Dolinsky

[email protected]

Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL.