'Peeping Tom Landlord' admits he videotaped female tenants

A suburban Philadelphia landlord has admitted spying and videotaping about 30 female tenants who rented from him over the past 20 years.

Thomas Daley, 46, formerly of Phoenixville, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to 30 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy, seven felony counts of interception of oral communications and five felony counts of possessing an electronic device for the surreptitious interception of oral communications in connection with incidents that occurred between 1989 and September 2008, according to reporter Car Hessler Jr.

Prosecutors say Daley put cameras behind mirrors and in ceiling fans in bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms at five apartment buildings in Norristown. Police were tipped off when a tenant found one of the cameras.

"If you start with the premise that a person's home is his or her castle, a place that you have solace and a place that you can get away from the world, by spying on their most intimate behavior, it would shake a person to their core," said Assistant District Attorney John N. Gradel. "It's really an egregious violation of privacy."

Daley faces 10 to 151 years in prison. The open plea means Daley has no deals with prosecutors regarding his potential punishment.

Defense attorney Tim Woodward says Daley never showed the videos to anyone else and "is extremely remorseful."

Read the full story in today's edition of The Pottstown Mercury.