What's the purpose of recording younger men? >> I couldn't even I couldn't say. >> So when when we look at your phone and we look through it, what's that going to show me? Okay. Is it going to show their Possibly. Possibly. Possibly? Can you open your phone and can I look through it? Um I refuse. I'm asking you a question. >> I'm just asking what happens if I say no. On December 30th, 2025, officers were dispatched to Great Lakes Mall in Mentor after a father reported catching a creep allegedly filming his young son inside a men's restroom. Police quickly located the suspect in the food court, but what should have been a straightforward encounter soon revealed far more unsettling details and a pattern of behavior that suggested this was no accident. How's it going? How are you? >> Good. How are you? Good. So Hey, I'm not You're not going to delete anything. >> No. Stop. Give me your phone. What's going on? Nothing. I'm Are you trying to delete something? >> No. I'm heading on my way out. You're on your way out? >> record this? I'm getting you recorded right now. What I'm telling you is you shouldn't I have reasonable suspicion you're trying to delete something right now. You went to put your phone away. You're trying to put it away. Do you have an ID on you? Okay. Um I can give you my name. It's not a traffic stop, so I still don't have to give you my name, right? Correct. I'm I'm You're You're absolutely correct. It would be um It'd be easier for me to find you in the system if I have your ID. >> That's fine. That's fine. I'm clear on How about this? I'll just set your phone over here. We'll come over here. We'll talk. I'm just saying Yeah. I'm going to ID you, okay? So place I'm talking to him now. Um Tom Lincoln We had a call that you were standing inside of the bathroom with your camera open and following young men into the bathroom and recording them. Is that true? I was outside. I had a bit of a cold. Um and it may be true a little bit, yeah. It's a little true? Okay. So, were you trying to delete stuff just now from your phone? No. Cuz you went to put your phone away and then you took it back out realizing you probably delete stuff. That sounds about right, right? Well, I one it's a police interaction so I I can have my phone out, but You can, but you see how Yeah. Do you mind if we like talk not in the Sure. That's you can take, yeah. Where do you want to go? You're the answer. I'm not going to like I'm not cuz I'm not supposed to like not in the middle of the food court. It's just Yeah, where do you want to go? Um Um how about like sort of like that? >> Six place have eyes on the car as well. Yeah, you want to go let's go over there. Do you have any weapons on you? No. Okay. Let's go over here. You can you can pat like my coat like I got gloves in my pocket. I'll pat you down. Come over here. Upon arrival, officers immediately spotted the suspect, Joshua Yanowitz, also known as Josh, browsing around the food court. Though he tried to appear as though he hadn't done anything wrong, it was painfully obvious which disturbing acts had led up to this call. During initial questioning, Josh admitted that the allegations made against him might be true. Now, officers were determined to get more answers. When you had your phone out, what were you looking to do? I don't know. I I just sometimes have it out a lot. It's it's definitely a problem. Okay. I'm not trying to like make people be uncomfortable and I don't want to be that person. >> Okay. Um And I'm sorry if that's the situation that happened. That's obviously never anyone's intention. >> I'm going to be direct with you. What's the What's the purpose of recording younger men? I I couldn't even ex- I couldn't say. >> You couldn't explain? Okay. Um When you recorded the the younger kids going to the bathroom, were you like actually watching them like use the restrooms and the facilities? So when when we look at your phone and we look through it, what's that going to show me? Probably what you're describing. Which part? Of other individuals. >> Okay. Is it going to show their Possibly. Their Possibly. Possibly? Okay. Got you. How how old do you think those people are? I couldn't say. Okay. Got you. Can you open your phone and can I look through it? Um if I refuse, just I'm just asking you. I'm asking you a question. I'm just asking what happens if I say no. I'm just asking you a question. It's a simple yes or no. Okay, why I just want to understand this the steps involved, right? What are the what's What's your name? Josh. Josh. Josh, can I I ran I don't know if they got it. No? They gave me a readback. Yeah. Yes. Josh. Yeah. Will you open your phone and allow me to look through it? Yes or no? I If I say no, what happens? It's a yes or no question, Josh. I I understand that, but I'd like to understand what is the next steps. I understand for you that's obviously easier if I say yes. Okay. I understand I of course have the right to say no, but what I like to understand is what happens if obviously if I say yes, it's unlocked to look whatever you're going to do, see whatever you're going to see. Okay. If I say no, what happens next? >> Okay. So, Josh, I'm going to read you your Miranda rights, okay? Okay. So, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney yourself, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights? Yes. >> Okay. Are you willing to speak to me? Yes. Okay. With the suspect secured, officers turned their attention to the victims. Another officer had already located the caller who explained that he first noticed the suspect standing at a urinal next to his 11-year-old son with a camera app open. All right, come over here. We'll talk. All right. So, tell me what you saw. All right. So, we got here about 12:20, 12:30. I got my oldest right there and my youngest right here in the restroom. Uh he bolted in behind my my youngest. >> sitting like He's been hanging out right over there by that All right. And uh Look, it's okay. Okay. I I work I work in the DB field, so I was like I know what's going on. So, my other my you know my oldest is across, you know, in that divide there. He's he's in the urinal. I walk around the corner. He's got his phone with his little dinger there and he's 45 like at my kid. When I'm So, when when you look at his phone, you could clearly see >> It looked like there was a camera app when he was walking out. I didn't see any picture, but it it looked like he had a camera app open. >> It looked like it or he It appeared I thought it was close, but you don't you don't stand at a urinal like this. Wait. With his straight right next to a child, okay? So, but all right, maybe that's a little much. I'm trying to think, is there a partition? No. No? No. So, he's at the urinal with the phone. On the right side. And your son is next to >> He's at the second from the right, okay? And then you you saw you saw >> And he he bolted out of there. Just awkward behavior. But like when you when you walked in you saw it. Yeah. And you just walked away like he wasn't even doing or nothing? He kind of played like he was the first time. But like he had the phone in his hand. >> just standing there at an angle. And he did like a fake You know, like Yeah. All right, and then your other son Right. Right. Right, right, right, right. So you wait, so you went in there the second time? And he's just standing like But he was just kind of like loitering like Wait, wait. So he's at the second time. But he's what It was a phone in his hand, too? All right. Can I get a Well, you said two times he's gone in there. The one Well, that is very suspicious that your kids in the stall and he's just walking around looking around with a phone in his >> [clears throat] >> Can I get a statement from you of everything that happened? And then when you saw the phone though, you saw the camera app open. And he was standing So he was standing like this? But he was standing next to your son as your son was Right, right, right, right. But as your son was actively And then you went in there cuz just to see your son cuz he walked in there, right? The father detailed a second incident where Josh followed his youngest son back into the restroom, reentering several times to check if the boys were still inside. Now it was painfully clear there was no doubt officers had pieced together the full severity of the situation, especially given that Josh had already admitted the images on his phone would probably include explicit material. No. No? Did he do anything else to you? No. Did he Did you see his phone or anything in his hand? Uh no. No? >> Nothing, but then again I wasn't really paying attention. Right. What I was looking at my phone. Well, that's what you I mean, people usually do. Yeah. Cool. He admitted to it? All right. Did he Easy enough. Did you Did you get Did you get his phone? We did. Yeah, we got his phone. All right. He admitted to it. Said he was in the personal closet. All right. Um Good job on your part. You ever fill one of these out before? Oh, yeah, unfortunately. I mean, not All right, yeah. Your name? Basically you're just Put your son as age. You don't have to put everything. That he went to the bathroom, you walked in, you observed um him with the phone at the urinal. Came back, your other son just Basically what you told me. All right. Sounds good. Yeah, you did a good job though. In the end, Joshua was charged with two counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a young person and three counts of voyeurism, but he pleaded not guilty to all charges in Mentor Municipal Court.