Man found guilty of planting camera in Tallmadge woman's apartment

TALLMADGE — An Akron man was found guilty Tuesday of felony charges in connection with a video camera that was found planted in a Tallmadge woman’s apartment last year.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones found 54-year-old Lawrence I. Sklare guilty of third-degree felony burglary and fifth-degree felony menacing by stalking during a status hearing. Sentencing is scheduled for May 29 at 9 a.m.

Tamara Keefer, Corrigall Jones bailiff, said that as part of a plea deal, the charges were reduced from second-degree felony burglary and fourth-degree felony menacing by stalking. Also as part of a plea deal, said Keefer, Sklare entered an Alford plea just prior to the guilty verdict, in which he maintains his innocence, but has opted not to continue fighting the case.

Sklare has been free on a $50,000 bond since last October. His attorney, John P. Alexander, declined to comment.

Police said that Sklare, the ex-boyfriend of the woman’s mother, began placing pictures of the woman around her apartment complex in August 2017. The pictures, of the woman doing routine things, showed up in her car and the management offices of the apartment complex.

In September last year someone broke a window at the woman’s apartment. There did not appear to be anything disturbed inside, so the woman did not immediately report the matter, said police. Police, however, said it was discovered that a camera was wired into her utility room and aimed at her bathroom and Sklare became a suspect.

After Sklare’s arrest, police executed a search warrant of his home, but electronics, including a computer that Sklare would have used to watch the video were gone. However, said police, they found a receipt apparently for the camera from a big-box store in the area.

Police said they were then able to obtain store security video of Sklare buying a camera which looked just like the one found in the woman’s apartment.

Editor's note: Reporter Tim Troglen contributed to this story.

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at 330-541-9431, jsaunders@recordpub.com or @JeffSaunders_RP.