I-TEAM: Serial Peeping Tom had over 500 photos of ‘unknown victims,’ voyeurism law change pending

MIAMI TWP. — A serial Peeping Tom with more than a dozen convictions for the same sex crime is back in jail, accused of doing the same thing the day he was released from jail after serving a previous sentence.

Harold Rimblert III, 38, of Harrison Twp., was taken into custody during his arraignment Wednesday in Miamisburg Municipal Court for the most recent incident he’s accused of from November at a Miami Twp. bowling alley.

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On Nov. 16, Rimblert was accused of entering the women’s restroom at the Poelking Lanes at 8871 Kingsridge Drive, according to court records. He’s accused of crawling on the floor while a woman was going to the restroom.

“The only reason he didn’t have his phone again this time to record it is because the last time the township arrested him, which was last summer, they took his phone in evidence and it’s still there,” prosecutors said during Rimblert’s arraignment Wednesday. “Right before this happened about 20 minutes, which is how long it would take to walk from the PD to the bowling alley, he was trying to get his phone back from Miami Twp. police so he could do this again.”

Court records show he was charged with voyeurism and he’s currently being held on a $50,000 bond. A judge also ordered him be trespassed from public bathrooms.

“He is a danger to the community,” prosecutors said. “He literally cannot stop or will not stop. I don’t care which it is.”

Rimblert has been already been convicted three times across two counties on voyeurism since June, and that comes after he had more than a dozen previous voyeurism convictions before that, court records show.

News Center 7 reached out to Rimblert Friday, however he refused to comment.

In August, Rimblert took photographs of women using the restroom on consecutive days at the Kroger store on West Alex Bell Road in Moraine and the Menards on Springboro Pike in Miami Twp. He got out of the Montgomery County Jail on Nov. 16 after serving time for those convictions, according to jail records.

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A search warrant on Rimblert’s phone in August revealed 24 photos of one of his victims and “over 500 photos of unknown victims.”

Rimblert’s crimes over more than a decade prompted lawmakers in 2019 to first introduce legislation to increase penalties for repeat offenders of voyeurism, but the legislation has never been voted on.

Currently, voyeurism can only be charged as a felony if the victim is a minor, according to the Ohio Revised Code. Every other instance, including repeat offenses involving adult victims, are misdemeanors and carry a maximum jail sentence of up to 180 days for the most serious offenses.

Senate Bill 218 was introduced by Sen. Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg) just days before Rimblert’s August crime spree last year. He hopes it will move forward through the Ohio General Assembly soon.

“This bill would increase the punishment of repeat offenders,” Antani said in his September testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing Rimblert’s criminal history as a reason for his bill. “There must be a more severe penalty for repeat offenders of voyeurism.”

Antani and Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) first tried to pass House Bill 307 to increase voyeurism penalties in June 2019 after News Center 7 brought Rimblert’s cases to the legislature’s attention. House Bill 307 has never made it out of the Criminal Justice Committee at the statehouse, according to online records from the Ohio General Assembly.

“This is absolutely disgusting, and I feel very badly for the victims of this individual,” Antani told News Center 7.

Rimblert’s crimes of voyeurism date back to at least 2005. They include incidents in Dayton, Beavercreek, Sugarcreek Twp., Englewood, Kettering, Moraine, Trotwood and Washington Twp., municipal court records show.

Rimblert, a Tier-III sex offender, was convicted in June 2021 after he admitted to looking under a women’s restroom stall at the Lowe’s store on Wilmington Pike in Sugarcreek Twp. A Sugarcreek Twp. police report showed Rimblert admitted to doing it for sexual reasons.

Being a Tier-III sex offender he is required to register every 90 days for the rest of his life. He’s not listed in the online registry, because he is currently in custody, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office said.

Prior to his 2021 offenses, Rimblert was convicted in February 2020 after he looked under a stall in the women’s bathroom at the Kohl’s on Centre Drive in Beavercreek.

Prior to the February 2020 offense, Rimblert had just recently got out of jail following convictions for looking under stalls at Panera Bread and Michael’s in Beavercreek in 2019.

Rimblert also was previously arrested in January 2019 after police said he walked into a women’s restroom at Kettering Health Network’s offices on Prestige Place and looked at a naked woman in a secured restroom stall, court records read.

Rimblert was convicted in the fall of 2017 for looking under a stall in a women’s restroom at the Montgomery County administration building on West Third Street in Dayton.

After reviewing surveillance video in the Montgomery County case, detectives were able to identify Rimblert as a suspect, according to an incident report.

The 38-year-old also was convicted of voyeurism in 2017 for incidents at a church on Shroyer Road.

On Aug. 3, 2017, he was accused of “looking under bathroom stalls as women were using the restroom” at the church and two victims were identified in that case, according to court records.

Rimblert also was convicted in Greene County of voyeurism in June 2017. In 2014 and 2015 he was convicted of attempted voyeurism in Beavercreek.

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