Aiken man accused of recording victim in stall at Welcome Center

Johua Mello was charged Wednesday for voyeurism at the S.C. Welcome Center on I-20 in Aiken County.

Date: January 03, 2025

An Aiken man was locked on New Year’s Day for allegedly taking pictures of another man underneath a urinal stall at  the S.C. Welcome Center on I-20.

Joshua Mello, 45, of Aiken, was charged Wednesday with voyeurism, violating a place of privacy.

The victim told authorities that he was using the urinal around 5:30 p.m. at the I-20 Eastbound Welcome Center in Aiken County. He said he saw an iPhone slide underneath the stall with the camera was facing upwards toward his genitalia, a sheriff’s report says.

The victim made some statements to the suspect in the locked stall next to him before leaving the restroom and calling law enforcement. After speaking with emergency dispatchers, he went back inside to confirm the man was the only one inside. Soon, the suspect left, but not before the victim got a description of him: a Caucasian male with a full beard wearing a blue baseball cap, a gray sweater, blue jeans and gray shoes with white soles. He was also driving a gray Toyota Tacoma.

The suspect was captured on Sudlow Lake Road and arrested. He remained Thursday night in the Aiken County Detention Center.

A LinkedIn page identifies the suspect as a tech/ops training specialist.

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The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

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