A Vestavia Hills man is accused of secretly recording women in the changing room of a Hoover gym.

Hoover police on Monday announced charges against 32-year-old Brandon Michael Aldridge. He is charged with 13 counts of aggravated criminal surveillance, which is a misdemeanor crime.

Lt. Keith Czeskleba said the investigation began May 15 when Hoover police received a report of someone recording women in a changing room at 24e Fitness on Montgomery Highway. The victim in the case told detectives she was changing clothes when she observed the reflection of an unknown object in the mirror at the top of the changing stall.

Three days later, Czeskleba said, the same victim was about to change clothes in a stall when she observed a phone being held over the partition. With the help of gym management, the suspect and some additional victims were identified.

After analyzing evidence in the case, detectives determined there were eight women who had been recorded by the same suspect, beginning in early April 2019. Some of the victims were recorded multiple times.

Seven of the women elected to press charges and met with magistrates at the Hoover Municipal Court. Aldridge turned himself in at the Hoover City Jail Monday and was released after posting $13,000 bond.

Alabama law states a person commits the crime of aggravated criminal surveillance if he or she intentionally engages in surveillance of an individual in any place where the individual being observed has a reasonable expectation of privacy, without the prior express or implied consent of the individual being observed, for the purpose of sexual gratification. Aggravated criminal surveillance is a Class A misdemeanor, except if a person has a prior conviction or adjudication under this section the offense is a Class C felony.

“We believe this case is a good reminder to fitness facilities that some of them need to do more to insure the privacy of their members,’’ said Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector. “The management at 24e, however, was very cooperative with the detective handling this case. They even provided surveillance footage of common areas that assisted in the identification of the suspect.“

“This type case is also a little frustrating because we believe the average person would expect this to be a more serious crime than a misdemeanor,’’ Rector said.” That’s obviously something that’s out of our hands though, as we can only enforce the laws that currently exist.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Drew Mims at 205-739-7274.