Former employee photographed girls and women in Kenai Peninsula school locker rooms and bathrooms, charges say

A former maintenance worker secretly photographed girls and women at various areas in schools, including locker rooms and pools, charges filed against him say.

Isaac Davis, 33, resigned after an investigation was launched in July 2021. He was arrested Friday and is facing six felony charges.

Investigators believe Davis secretly photographed and recorded girls and women at the Ninilchik School and Skyview Middle School in Soldotna, the charges said.

Davis was employed by the Kenai Peninsula Borough, which is responsible for all maintenance at Kenai Peninsula Borough School District schools, according to a district official.

Troopers began investigating him after a girl reported seeing a cellphone sticking out from a corner while she was showering at the Skyview Middle School locker room, according to an affidavit filed by Trooper Kevin Gill. The girl told a lifeguard what she had seen and the lifeguard confronted Davis, who was described as “sweating buckets,” according to the affidavit. Davis initially denied photographing the girl to the lifeguard and later to troopers, Gill wrote.

Surveillance video showed him entering the locker room about 15 times within an hour, the affidavit said. Davis had his phone in his hand or had placed it in his shirt pocket before and after he was recorded entering the locker room.

Security footage from a separate day also showed Davis entering the women’s locker room, the affidavit said.

The district reported the incident to troopers immediately and barred Davis from school property, according to an email Tuesday from assistant superintendent Kari Dendurent. Davis resigned from his position with the borough before an administrative inquiry began two days after the incident, the affidavit said.

Trooper Benjamin Strachan was initially in charge of the case, but Gill wrote that he took over once Strachan was fired. Strachan was arrested last year and charged with seven felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

During the investigation, troopers searched Davis’ phone and computer and found that in the hours after the reported incident, he had searched for information about how to permanently delete photos and how forensic analysts recover data from phones, the affidavit said. Investigators again searched his phone, computer and house in January.

On his computer, troopers found photos and videos of girls that appeared to be taken surreptitiously, the charges said. Some of the photos were taken at the borough pool in Nikiski, the affidavit said, which is where Davis previously worked.

Davis also secretly photographed girls playing soccer in a school hallway and recorded a woman through an overhead bathroom vent, the affidavit said.

An employee at the Ninilchik School pool had previously reported that Davis recorded her in the locker room, according to the affidavit, which said she had not pursued a criminal report.

During an interview with Gill, Davis admitted he photographed and recorded women without their permission from concealed locations and said it was “something that just kind of snowballed and I don’t know why,” the trooper wrote. He described it as a sudden compulsion, and the affidavit said he also told the trooper he had photographed a woman undressing through a window in a different state 10 years ago.

Davis denied taking photos of juvenile girls, according to the affidavit, and told Gill that after the incident at Skyview Middle School he sought counseling and got a flip phone that could not take photos.

Davis is facing five counts of indecent viewing or production of a picture and one charge of tampering with physical evidence.

His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Isaac Davis was employed by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. He was employed by the Kenai Peninsula Borough, which is responsible for school maintenance.