High school wrestling coach arrested for allegedly recording females in Target store fitting room
Former high school wrestling coach
By Kayla James
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AMES, Iowa (KCCI) — A former Iowa high school wrestling coach faces several charges for allegedly recording female victims while they were changing in a Target store fitting room.
Michael Leslie Jr., 45, of Maxwell, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of invasion of privacy—nudity.
The charges stem from several incidents in February during which Ames police say Leslie used his cellphone “to record images of the victim(s) without their knowledge or consent” at the Ames Target store, 320 S Duff Ave.
“All of those were at Target and they were all between the dates of February 15th to the 24th,” said Sgt. Cole Hippen, the criminal investigations supervisor for the Ames Police Department.
According to court documents, Ames police officers responded to the Target store Feb. 24 after receiving a report of a man putting his phone under a fitting room door.
“That person believed they were being recorded by him without their consent,” said Hippen.
After securing a search warrant, authorities found an image from that day of a juvenile female while she was in the fitting room with the door closed.
“Leslie was attempting to capture images of (her) while in the nude or in a state of undress,” according to a news release.
The victim allegedly noticed the camera under the door and confronted Leslie, who left the store before officers arrived, Ames police said in the news release.
Data extracted from Leslie’s phone revealed images of adult females in the same store’s fitting room from Feb. 15, Feb. 16 and Feb. 17, according to criminal complaints.
“I don’t have evidence to support that there is other activity outside of that, but the investigation is ongoing and we would encourage anybody who does have suspicions or concerns to contact the Ames Police Department,” said Hippen. “We would be happy to look into that.”
Nevada Community School District superintendent Steve Gray confirmed to KCCI that Leslie worked for the district as an assistant girls’ wrestling coach.
According to online records Leslie was hired as an assistant girls wrestling coach in 2022, the first season Nevada combined with Collins-Maxwell and Colo-Nesco to create a girls wrestling program. Prior to coaching at Nevada, he spent seven years as head coach of Collins-Maxwell High School wrestling.
His employment with Nevada ended after the most recent wrestling season, Gray said. The girls state wrestling tournament capped the season Feb. 7.
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