ONLY ON ABC-7: Trial begins for L.C. man accused of recording kids in bathroom

EDITORS NOTE: Paul Ikard is not associated with Ikards Furniture and has no ownership in the firm, though he is a relative.

The trial for a Las Cruces man accused of secretly recording children in his bathroom will begin Monday in New Mexico’s Third Judicial District Court.

Paul Ikard, then 53, was arrested in May 2016. He faces two fourth-degree felony counts of “Voyeurism of a Child Under the Age of 18,” and five misdemeanor counts of “Attempt to Commit Voyeurism.”

In March 2017, one of Ikard’s accusers told ABC-7 that she was hurt, saying “I kind of feel scared to the point where I just start crying.”

According to the Las Cruces Police Department, Ikard allegedly asked an Ohio company if they could recover lost data from a hard drive in September 2015. Upon trying to restore the device, police say the Ohio company found child pornography.

After that company contacted the FBI, federal investigators determined they could not prove federal charges, but referred the case to the Las Cruces Police Department for state charges, police said.

After obtaining a search warrant for the device, investigators found “videos of children,” the department said. Police say they later searched Ikard’s home and found a video camera with Velcro. According to the department, investigators found “a matching piece of Velcro” concealed in Ikard’s bathroom.

“At first, I didn’t believe it,” one of Ikard’s accusers said in court on Monday. “I didn’t think he could actually do something like that. I was hurt and my trust was broken.”

Ikard is a local businessman in Las Cruces.

The trial will last three days. Expect ABC-7’s coverage throughout the week, on-air and online.

“It’s hard to go to the bathroom without having to look around if there’s something recording me,” his accuser told the jury. “It scares me a little.”