By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


A local man accused of recording girls in dressing rooms has entered into a plea with the court.

33-year-old Joseph Busha of Conway Township was originally charged for a January 23rd incident at the Fowlerville Walmart in which a 15-year-old girl said she became aware of him while she was changing in the dressing room. He was bound over to circuit court for trial on 2 counts of felonious assault, one count of capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person, and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. Then in March, additional felony charges were filed against him for two incidents at the Tanger Outlet Center in Howell Township, one occurring at American Eagle Outfitters in January 2018, and the other at Old Navy in December 2019. For these, he was charged with 2 new counts of capturing the image of an unclothed person, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, and 2 counts of using a computer to commit a crime, a felony punishable for up to 7 years.

At his recent pre-trial hearing, Busha offered pleas that were accepted by the court. In the Walmart case, he pleaded no contest to the capturing an image charge and the using a computer to commit a crime charge. In return, the prosecutor dismissed the 2 charges of assault with a dangerous weapon. In the Tanger case, Busha pled no contest to one count of capturing an image, with prosecutors dismissing the 2nd like-count and both charges of using a computer to commit a crime.

An October 15th sentencing date has been set.