New Albany man arrested for allegedly using ladder and cellphone to record neighbors

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A New Albany man was arrested for allegedly using a cellphone and a ladder to record neighbors through their windows.

Court records show Nick Douglas Pledger was arrested Oct. 22 on felony voyeurism charges after New Albany Police staked out the neighborhood, off Browns Station Way and Beharrell, not far from Slate Run Road.

Multiple neighbors who live close to Pledger told New Albany Police that they saw a suspicious man in a dark hoodie early in the morning, according to investigators.

The first woman told investigators on Sept. 23 that she was getting ready before 7 a.m., when she saw a cellphone pointed at her through her second story bathroom window.

"She became distraught and ran downstairs, and outside to see if anyone was around," according to the affidavit. She said she was met by another female neighbor that saw a man running away, carrying a four-foot blue ladder. The woman said she thought the man used a selfie-stick to reach the window.

Another woman reported on Oct. 16 and 17 that her home surveillance camera recorded a man in a hoodie with a reflective emblem walking through her yard before dawn and then returning about an hour later. She told police she was concerned he was looking in windows.

On Oct. 17, a man told police that a neighbor's surveillance camera captured a person in dark clothing possibly setting up a ladder near a bathroom window, but the motion-activated cameras didn't capture the entire incident.

New Albany Police stepped up their investigation on Oct. 20 and talked to neighbors who identified Pledger as the suspect. They told investigators he was aware of their daily routines, had been invited into the yard of one couple and knew when the women would be home after their partners left in the mornings.

Investigators also talked to Pledger's employee, who had seen the surveillance videos that were shared throughout the neighborhood. He told police he recognized Pledger's build and beard in one of the videos. He also identified the blue ladder as one Pledger owned.

On Wednesday, NAPD detectives set up surveillance in the neighborhood starting at 5 a.m. About an hour later, they spotted a man in a dark hoodie carrying a blue ladder. Pledger, who lives nearby, was stopped and taken into custody near homes where neighbors had complained about the previous incidents.

Police said Pledger opted not to talk to investigators and was taken to the Floyd County Jail without incident.

Investigators also discovered that Pletcher had been previously charged with 20 counts of felony voyeurism in 2014 and 2016 in Vigo County, Indiana. He was convicted on three of those counts.

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