Woman catches a man allegedly recording her in a Nordstrom dressing room. But she says mall security let him leave before police arrived

According to The Nerd Stash, a California woman is using social media to find a man she says secretly recorded her inside a Nordstrom dressing room. Sophia Schades says mall security allowed the man to leave before police arrived.

According to what Schades shared on her Instagram account, sophschade_, she caught the man recording her with a phone that was hidden inside a shirt on the floor of the fitting room next to hers.

She confronted him as he tried to leave the store. Her video of the confrontation has received thousands of reactions online, and she says a report has now been filed with local authorities.

Confrontation caught on video outside the fitting rooms

Schades said the incident happened on July 21 at a Nordstrom inside a mall in Cerritos, California. The Cerritos Sheriff’s Station, part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, confirmed to The California Post that a report was filed and that a detective has been assigned to the case.

Schades said she noticed a phone hidden inside a black shirt that was crumpled on the floor of the fitting room next to hers. She began recording with her own phone as the man, wearing a red shirt and black boots, came out and tried to hide his face.

In the video, Schades can be heard telling him, “You’re f–king recording me.” He denied doing it, even though Schades said she had caught him on camera. She said she told store employees that she wanted to press charges.

Mall security followed the man as he left the store. Schades said security told her they would keep an eye on him, but the man managed to get away before police arrived. This is not the first time a stranger’s unwanted attention has led a woman to speak up in public –  in another recent case, a woman confronted a man who followed her by car.

Because the man had not been identified, Schades posted the video online and asked people to help find him. She later told her followers that she believes she has learned his name through tips from people online. She said she is not sharing the name yet because she wants to confirm it with police and is concerned about possible defamation issues.

The video shows the confrontation happening in a hallway outside the dressing rooms, near mirrors and decorative walls. The man, wearing a red polo shirt, a blue baseball cap, and glasses, is seen holding the black garment, now partially unfolded, and tries to cover his face with it as Schades speaks.

In the recording, the man says, “Not recording.” Schades responds, “You’re f–king recording me.” He repeats, “I’m not, I’m not recording.” As he walks away, still trying to hide his face, Schades says, “Holy s–t, he’s recording me! He’s recording me! I literally got a f–king video of it in the dressing.”

The video, which was also shared on X by @ExxAlerts, an account with 593.8k followers, sparked strong reactions online. One user summed up the sentiment bluntly: “I see he thinks he deserves privacy…just not women.”

Others reacted with anger at how easily someone could hide a phone in a public dressing area and questioned whether he would have been caught if she hadn’t noticed. One commenter suggested Schades should have kept the phone rather than let security handle it, writing, “Free phone if you notice it there and have fast enough reactions cuz no way that dude gonna report you.”

Some commenters also argued about how the man should have been treated if mall security or bystanders had stopped him before he left, with one going as far as to write, “In a proper society, he would leave the mall with a black & blue face.”

Concerns about strangers entering spaces meant for women have come up in other public incidents too, including one where a woman confronted a man in a restroom. Under California law, secretly recording someone in a dressing room or another place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy is illegal. Depending on the circumstances, unauthorized recording can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.