Missouri corrections officer secretly filmed teen girls taking showers, feds say

A Missouri man was charged early this month for secretly filming teenage girls taking showers. Investigators also found evidence that he had recorded women and girls around town, including at a public swimming pool.

Nathaniel F. Mares, 35, is charged in federal court with sexual exploitation of a child.

Authorities were alerted to recordings allegedly produced by Mares after a tip last month from Mares’ estranged wife. The woman found flash drives with recordings of the two having sex, as well as recordings of two children getting into and out of a shower in their Mountain Grove, Mo., residence.

The two girls are under the age of 16.

Mares was questioned by police at his new residence in Licking, to where he’d moved following a separation from his wife.

He said he had previously owned an HP laptop, but he’d disposed of it after it had crashed. But investigators later found an HP laptop in Mares’ bedroom, as well as a video recording spy pen and dozens of flash drives.

Investigators concluded videos of the teens had recently been viewed on the laptop, and that the equipment was manufactured outside Missouri and crossed state lines.

Mares is being held in the Greene County Jail, and prosecutors signaled that he had other “surreptitious” video recordings in his possession, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Those videos include a recording of a woman and child walking into a Walmart and into Mountain Grove Elementary School, as well as a recording of young girls swimming at a public pool.

Mares has worked as a corrections officer at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Missouri corrections officer secretly filmed teen girls taking showers, feds say."