Planet Fitness worker plants hidden camera in tanning bed, North Dakota cops say

A Planet Fitness worker has been arrested after a hidden camera was discovered in a tanning bed inside the gym, according to North Dakota police and news reports.

A 21-year-old woman found the “video recording device” in a tanning bed at the Bismarck gym Monday, Aug. 21, police said.

It’s unclear how long the device was hidden. Police said Aug. 23 four different women were discovered to have been recorded.

A Planet Fitness employee accused of placing the hidden camera was fired, KXNET reported. The station said he was later arrested.

Police identified him as 45-year-old Layton Kessler. Multiple videos show him setting up the device, police told KFYR.

An affidavit revealed the 21-year-old woman who found the hidden camera was checking the tanning room “because she felt so uncomfortable with (Kessler’s) behavior,” according to the Bismarck Tribune.

Kessler would put women in a specific tanning booth and would often be parked next to the woman when she went back to her car, according to the affidavit also obtained by Inforum.

An SD card located inside the device had 26 video files, including five of four different women “in states of undress,” the Tribune reported, citing the affidavit.

Jail records show Kessler faces four counts of surreptitious intrusion. He was booked into the Burleigh County jail Aug. 22.

Investigators are working to identify the women who were recorded.

“(The) Bismarck Police Department considers recording laws to be serious offenses in which an individual’s right to privacy is breached,” police said in the news release. “As this investigation ensues, detectives will work to identify more potential victims and contact them as they are identified.”

Bismarck is in central North Darkota, about 200 miles west of Fargo.

This story was originally published August 23, 2023 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Planet Fitness worker plants hidden camera in tanning bed, North Dakota cops say."