A Kenosha man is holding at the Kenosha County Jail on a $15,000 bail after some serious accusations from police and prosecutors. Kevin A. Pursell, 40, of Kenosha was charged today with Felony Invasion of Privacy. He was accused of taking video up the skirts of women and underage girls at the Kenosha Harbor Market this Saturday and at least two other area-markets.

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According to the criminal complaint:

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On June 22, 2024, a Kenosha Police Officer was on walking patrol by the Kenosha Harbor Market by 56th Street and 2nd Avenue when he was approached by the director of the Harbor Market. She stated that a vendor named “Katie” believed that a male patron, later identified as Kevin Pursell, was possibly taking pictures or recording females under their skirt/dresses. The market director took the Officer over to Katie.

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Katie stated that she was very sure that the defendant she observed was taking pictures under females’ skirts. Katie took a photo of Pursell and said she believed he was doing it at other markets also and explained she called police in Burlington and Oak Creek to report the incidents. Katie observed the defendant going up to females wearing skirts and placing his bag under their skirts. Katie showed police a photo of Pursell who was a male, approximately 5’10 and 200 pounds and 40 years old wearing blue shorts, a gray t-shirt and black shoes with white soles. Pursell had short dark hair and a beard, carrying a black credit union bag with white lettering and white handles.

Katie and the Officer walked south on 2nd Ave from 56th Street, looking for Pursell. The Officer observed Pursell on the concrete area just south of 56th Street in the market area. The Officer approached Pursell and asked if he could speak to him. Pursell agreed and the Officer asked him for identification and he was cooperative. He was identified as Kevin Pursell by a valid Wisconsin driver’s license. The Officer informed Pursell that someone was concerned that he may be using his bag to take photos under females’ skirts. Pursell denied the allegation. The Officer asked Pursell if he could check the bag to make sure and Pursell agreed. When the Officer asked the defendant if there was any phone or recording device in his bag, Pursell responded “There might be”. The defendant had a black, checkered button down shirt in his black bag on the top of a water bottle. The Officer did not see anything obvious in the bag and looked at the shirt and did not find anything initially. The Officer asked Pursell if he had a phone and Pursell said that he did. The phone was a black phone in his pocket. Pursell gave the Officer consent to check the photos in the phone to see if he had any inappropriate photos from June 22, 2024. Pursell opened the phone and showed the photos. The Officer reported that he did not have any inappropriate photos from today and the phone was returned.

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The Officer looked a second time at the black shirt and then felt something hard. The item was a very small item that was about an inch long by one inch wide and black. The item had a small SD card in the device. When the Officer asked Pursell about it Pursell admitted that was the device. The Officer asked Pursell to be honest about would be found on the SD card. Pursell admitted that he was using the camera to look up females’ skirts and stated that it was embarrassing, and he got it off of Amazon. The defendant admitted that he has done this maybe one other time before but denied being able to get the footage on his phone.

Another Kenosha Police Officer assisted the Officer and it should be noted that Pursell informed officers that “a card reader needed to be used” in order to view the footage on that camera that he was in possession of. The second Officer asked Pursell what officers would see if they viewed the footage on the camera and Pursell said, “I don’t know, me walking around with the camera in a bag.” The second Officer asked Pursell if officers would see anything else and Pursell stated, “me looking at things” and when asked, Pursell stated that by “things” he meant “probably things I shouldn’t be looking at.”

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The backup Officer made contact with Katie who stated she observed Pursell standing unusually close behind a woman, who was waiting in line at a tent that was across the walkway from her tent. Katie stated the female was wearing a dress and had her back to Pursell. Katie said Pursell was carrying a black bag with cream colored handles and she noticed Pursell had his arm extended, holding the bag behind the female, angled under the female’s dress. Katie noted that Pursell’s arm, on the side he was holding the bag was in a rigid, unnatural position while standing behind the female, for an extended period of time. Katie showed the backup Officer a video of the incident, where the backup Officer observed Pursell standing unusually close behind a woman wearing a green dress, and he had the black canvas bag in his right hand. The video showed Pursell with a rigid, right arm, angling the black bag under the woman’s dress.

Katie informed police that she recognized Pursell from two other markets that she works at, outside of Kenosha. On May 18, 2024, while working at the market in Burlington, WI, she observed Pursell, carrying the same black canvas bag, behaving strangely. Katie said she saw Pursell carrying the canvas bag and standing near women in dresses/skirts (who were shopping at the market), and was angling the bag under women’s dresses/skirts. Katie alerted the Burlington market coordinator and local officials in that incident, as well. Katie showed a picture she took of Pursell at the Burlington market, which police confirmed was Kevin, and he was indeed carrying the same black canvas bag and he had the bag angled under a woman’s skirt.

The items turned over of evidentiary value consisted of:

• Small black button camera containing an SD card
• Black Samsung Galaxy phone with black case
• Navy blue and tan flannel shirt (men’s size medium)
• Black and tan (credit union) canvas bag

Police walked the defendant back to the squad car and Pursell agreed to go to the detective bureau so the footage could be checked.

At the Detective Bureau where Pursell spoke with a detective, Pursell admitted that he believed he recorded between five to ten women. Pursell stated that he has done this once before and he removes the SD card from the camera and inserts it into his computer at home to view the images for sexual gratification. Upon viewing the images, Pursell then deletes the images. Upon a cell phone search, a file extracted from the phone was a video where Pursell approached a female who appeared to be 14-15 years old and the defendant attempted to record her under her shorts.

KCE is aware of at least one search warrant conducted today and more charges could be following.

The Kenosha DA’s office asked for a $15,000 cash bail, citing the need to protect the public and the seriousness of the allegations.

Kenosha County Circuit Court Commissioner William Michel II agreed with the state and set bail at $15,000 cash. Pursell is due back in court on June 28, 2024 for a preliminary examination. He faces three and one half years in prison if convicted.