Apex man held without bond in Kohl’s peeping, touching case

A Sanford man, identified in court documents as Brian Izael Cruz, was held without bond after Wake County authorities accused him of secretly recording a woman and touching her inside the Kohl’s store in Apex.

Court records say the alleged incident happened April 16 at the department store. Prosecutors said the woman was bent over selecting shoes from a bottom shelf when an unknown man approached her, touched her upper back and buttocks without consent, and used a cell phone to secretly capture images beneath her skirt on multiple occasions. The allegations also include indecent exposure inside the store. Cruz faces felony secret peeping, sexual battery, indecent exposure and assault on a female charges.

Police arrested Cruz on April 28 after automated license plate readers alerted officers that his car had returned to Apex. The arrest quickly turned a retail complaint into a public-safety case, with investigators pointing to repeated acts inside a place where shoppers expect an ordinary trip, not hidden recording or unwanted physical contact.

The no-bond ruling was the most significant part of Cruz’s first court appearance. The case was handled under North Carolina’s Iryna’s Law framework, which took effect Dec. 1, 2025, and changed how judges consider pretrial release in some cases. Legislative analysis says the law requires officers to share relevant observed behavior with the judicial official and creates a rebuttable presumption against release for some violent-offense defendants or people with significant criminal history. In Cruz’s case, the judge did not set bond, but did allow him to argue for release. He said he wanted bond so he could hire his own lawyer.

The charges also carry different legal consequences that help explain why authorities treated the case so seriously. North Carolina’s secret peeping law makes secretly peeping into a room occupied by another person a criminal offense, sexual battery covers sexual contact by force and against the will of the other person, and indecent exposure bars willful exposure of private parts in public under specified circumstances. WRAL reported that the secret peeping charge carries a maximum sentence of 39 months.

For shoppers and employees, the case is a reminder that suspicious phone use aimed under clothing, repeated close contact, or public exposure in a store should be reported immediately to staff or police. In a busy retail center like Apex’s Kohl’s, quick action can preserve video, witness accounts and vehicle information before a suspect leaves the lot.