Man who filmed woman in H&M dressing room ID'd as high-ranking member of Church of Latter-Day Saints

A man arrested for videotaping a woman inside a dressing room has been identified as a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, WZTV reports.

Stephen Murdock, 55, was taken into custody last Tuesday after a woman noticed him holding a cellphone over the wall of an H&M dressing room she was using at the Opry Mills mall in Nashville.

It was later uncovered that Murdock, of Holiday, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, is a high-ranking councilor with the LDS Church. He was apparently visiting Tennessee when the incident unfolded.

Murdock's fellow parishioners expressed disapproval in wake of his arrest, telling WZTV they found it "disappointing" to see that "someone in that position isn't meeting" expectations.

According to the victim, Alondra Alcala, Murdock was waiting near the H&M dressing room when she came inside to try on a few items.

The suspect, who Alcala said appeared to be an employee, directed her into a specific room, where she began to undress before looking up and spotting "an iPhone, pointing down at me."

"I obviously knew I was being recorded, I freaked out, I froze," she told WZTV.

Photo: Metro Police Department

Alcala says she quickly exited her dressing room and confronted Murdock while prompting another shopper to call 911.

"I was kind of cornering him, kind of grabbing his arms, and I did watch him delete photos of me on his phone," she told the station. "Thankfully I was able to slap it out of his hand and take it and run out."

Officers with the Metro Police Department arrested Murdock, whose wife had allegedly approached Alcala and "asked her to settle this peacefully without getting police involved."

Murdock was booked into the Metro jail Tuesday night and released early Wednesday on $1,000 bond, according to the Tennessean. He is due to appear in court in Nashville on Sept. 6.

A spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told KSTU he could not confirm or deny Murdock’s involvement with the church, but added that someone arrested for a crime like this would typically be removed from a leadership position.

However, he added the final decision would ultimately be made by other leaders within the church.