Downers Grove man accused of making secret videos of woman, girl

A Downers Grove man is charged with inappropriately recording women and a teenage girl.

Matthew Morgan, 36, of the 0-100 block of Fourth Street, is charged with one count of unauthorized video recording of a victim under 18 and two counts of unauthorized video recording.

According to the DuPage County state's attorney's office, Morgan recorded a woman in a changing room on Sept. 23 at a Goodwill store in Downers Grove by placing his phone on the ground under the changing room door. Prosecutors also alleged that on Sept. 8, Morgan was at a Hinsdale Starbucks when he placed his phone, in record mode, on the ground under a 13-year-old girl's dress while he pretended to tie his shoes.

A search warrant revealed 260 more videos, mostly of female victims, that Morgan secretly recorded at various locations, including Goodwill, Starbucks and Target stores.

On Friday, Morgan was ordered placed on electronic home monitoring and to have monitoring software installed on his electronic devices. As a condition of his pretrial release, he cannot have contact with children, except his own, and must surrender any weapons.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said the allegations against Morgan were disturbing, adding that it also was concerning that the state's new provision on cashless bail did not allow a judge to detain Morgan.

"Since the SAFE-T Act went into effect, in DuPage County the law has largely been working as intended by the legislature," Berlin said. "I still believe, however, that a judge should have discretion to detain or release pretrial in any case based on the facts and circumstances of each particular case presented to the judge in court."

Morgan is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 30 for arraignment.