Former BYU-Idaho student sentenced for secretly filming roommates with hidden cameras

REXBURG – A 26-year-old Colorado man was sentenced after pleading guilty to filming his roommates with secret cameras.

Tyler George Morgan was sentenced to a minimum of two years and a maximum of four years in prison by District Judge Steven Boyce.

Boyce retained jurisdiction, meaning Morgan will complete a rider treatment program in prison for one year. Once the program is done, Boyce can decide whether or not to send him to prison for his given sentence or release him into probation.

According to court documents, Morgan will be required to pay $2,500 plus court costs and will not be required to register as a sex offender. He will also be given credit for 287 days already served.

Morgan was initially charged with two felony counts of video voyeurism and pleaded not guilty to both.

As part of a plea agreement accepted in August, Morgan pleaded guilty to both counts in exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to file any additional counts of video voyeurism “for videos found on any electronic device seized by the Rexburg Police Department in this course of the investigation in this matter,” according to the agreement.

The plea agreement also states, “if any minor child is depicted and/or there is evidence of dissemination of videos/photos, the State may file additional counts of video voyeurism and/or other charges it deems appropriate.”

The prosecution agreed to recommend a minimum of 2 and a half years and a maximum of five years in prison at sentencing.

During sentencing, Morgan’s defense attorney, public defender Trent Grant, recommended a minimum of one year and a maximum of 3 years in prison, with a retained jurisdiction.

The agreement was non-binding on the court, meaning that Boyce did not have to sentence Morgan to the recommended time and could sentence him to more or less time if he saw fit.

Background of the case

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the Rexburg Police Department, the incidents happened between January 2020 and July 2020 and again between January 2021 and July 2021.

In February 2023, an officer with the Rexburg Police Department met with Morgan. He admitted to using a camera disguised as a wall charger cube and told the officer he first used the wall charger cube on one of his college roommates in 2020.

He placed it in his roommate’s bedroom while living at Bunkhouse Apartments in Rexburg.

Morgan said he took videos of his roommate clothed and unclothed several times. Morgan also admitted he took approximately 12 videos of the roommate and would later use them to sexually gratify himself.

Morgan admitted that in 2021, he lived at Birch Plaza with a different roommate.

He again installed the wall charger camera and purchased a different camera disguised as a shower hook, which Morgan installed in a shared bathroom to take videos and pictures of his roommate naked in the shower.

He again admitted he later used the videos and pictures to sexually gratify himself, documents said.

“As I continued my interview with Tyler, he admitted to having several other victims, which have not yet been notified or completely identified, and performing similar actions on other dates and times in Rexburg and also in different states,” the officer wrote in court documents.