Camera in female firefighter’s room brings arrest & Denver lieutenant’s sudden retirement
Lieutenant wrote it was a "prank gone wrong"
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Pretty swift action in Denver after a hidden camera was discovered in a female firefighter’s bunk room at Station 9. The camera was found last weekend. Lieutenant Daniel Flesner retired from the department on Monday. He was arrested on Wednesday.
A former Denver firefighter was arrested Wednesday on charges of invasion of privacy and tampering with physical evidence after admitting he placed a hidden camera inside the room of a female co-worker, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Denver7 Friday.
Daniel Flesner, 47, who was also booked into the Douglas County Jail on an additional fugitive from justice charge, was identified as the primary suspect in the case after he allegedly tried to tamper with the recording device when an internal investigation into the incident was underway, according to a police account of the incident.
The investigation began on March 31 at around 2:40 a.m. when officers with the Denver Police Department were dispatched to Denver Fire House 9 on a call of a suspicious occurrence.
It states that on March 30, a female firefighter was in her room at the firehouse reading when someone passed by and spoke to her. She said a few second later, she heard her own voice repeat what she had just said.
She searched her room and found what looked like a cellphone charger that actually houses a hidden camera, which was aimed at the area where she changes her clothes.
She said she reported what she found to her supervisor, Flesner, “who advised her it would be okay to take a day before she decided what she was going to do about the device being in her room.”
The female firefighter contacted another member of the department to get another opinion. When they returned to Flesner, they said they found him using a pin to tamper with the SD card inside the camera.
Police say Flesner gave a written statement at the time that did not say he placed the camera in the room. However, another person contacted police to say Flesner admitted to placing the camera in the room and intended it to be a joke.
Police also saw a group text message allegedly sent by Flesner after the camera was found saying, “Hey gang. So, so sorry. Prank gone wrong. Love you guys.”
