Carolyn Fath
A former employee at AlphaGraphics Madison claims he “didn’t mean to violate” anyone’s privacy when he hid a camera in a bathroom at the downtown business and secretly recorded coworkers using the toilet, according to a criminal complaint.
Stephen M. Schally, 62, has been charged with seven counts of capturing an intimate representation without consent, a Class I felony punishable by fines up to $10,000, or imprisonment of up to three years and six months, or both. Schally pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing Oct. 8 in Dane County circuit court and was issued a signature bond of $500, according to court records. His final pre-trial conference is scheduled for Dec. 7. Schally is represented by Madison criminal defense attorney Chris Van Wagner, who did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, an AlphaGraphics employee on July 27 discovered a black object tucked among extra rolls of toilet paper on a storage cart in the women’s bathroom. Police later identified the object as a wireless “spy camera” equipped with wifi connectivity, motion activation and digital storage. A memory card found inside the camera contained three video files as well as several dozen more marked “deleted” but still present in the file system. Based on file names, the videos appear to have been taken between July 12 and July 26.
Investigators reviewed footage and identified seven people — six women and one man, all AlphaGraphics employees — who were recorded using the toilet. (The single-occupant bathroom is labeled “women” but is frequently used by all genders, the complaint notes). A white male in his 50s or 60s, later identified as Schally, appears in more than one video placing and adjusting the camera while checking his cell phone, which investigators believe showed a live feed of the recording.
AlphaGraphics owner John Bickers Sr., identified in the complaint by his initials, told police that Schally had complained that some of the women had been using the bathroom for extra long breaks. Schally was also responsible for ordering supplies for the business, including bathroom supplies. He was also in charge of stocking the bathrooms with toilet paper.
When police contacted Schally on Aug. 9, Schally stated that he never saw the camera and had only heard about it from coworkers. But when an officer produced screenshots from the device that clearly showed Schally’s face, Schally looked down and “began mumbling responses that he ‘didn’t mean to violate’ anyone’s privacy and that it was just an ‘impulsive’ decision he made to place the camera there,” according to the complaint.
Schally then told police that “it only happened twice” and claimed he deleted the videos without watching them “out of feeling bad for recording the women,” saying he “hardly looked at them.” Schally also said he “lost track with reality” and that he “can’t imagine going through with this,” saying that it was “compulsive.” Schally said he couldn’t remember where he bought the camera but told police the camera might have been advertised on a pornography site.
A spokesperson for AlphaGraphics declined to comment but confirmed that Schally was no longer employed by the company. According to the complaint, all the employees who appeared on recordings were “disturbed” by the incident. One woman, who had only worked at AlphaGraphics for four days before the camera was found, quit because she did not feel comfortable working there anymore.
Another former AlphaGraphics employee, who asked not to be identified, says she’s come “unhinged” since learning she appeared on one of the recordings. “As a woman, you get constant comments, constant touching when you don’t want to be touched, constant comments on how you should be dressed. I really feel like society has told me that my body is not mine — and now I’ve been taped in a bathroom,” she tells Isthmus. “When is [my body] mine? When do I get to decide what’s private about it?”
She also worries that Schally may not have to register as a sex offender.
According to state statute, sex offender registry is mandatory for some convictions — such as sexual assault, child enticement or possession of child pornography — but the court has discretion in other cases when reporting is not automatically required.
“He’s a white man in his 60s who hired a really good lawyer,” the employee says. “I want everyone to know what this man has done.”
