Donald Hayes of Covington pleaded not guilty to felony voyeurism charges Aug. 12 at his arraignment in King County Superior Court according to a spokesman from the County Prosecutors Office.

Hayes, 54, was charged Aug. 10 after he was accused of videotaping a 13-year-old girl while she undressed in a spare room in his home.

The incident allegedly happened on April 28 when a pair of girls were invited to his home by a family member of Hayes to go swimming, according to charging papers.

The victim had borrowed a swim suit and after she finished swimming was directed by Hayes into a spare room, charging documents state, to change into her clothes. She is not identified in the charging papers because she is a juvenile.

While she was changing, the girl noticed a red light flashing on a video camera that was sitting on a desk in the spare room, then she looked at what was on the camera and saw that she had been recorded even though “she had expected privacy as there was a door that could be closed.”

Shortly afterward the victim told an adult what happened and eventually the camera was returned without its recording disc to Hayes.

During an initial interview with police Hayes said, “he had inadvertently pushed record on the camera instead of stop … he said he was transferring movies from VHS tape to DVD” but during another interview at the Regional Justice Center in Kent the explanation he gave for the accidental recording did not match his initial one.

Hayes then took and failed a polygraph test, according to charging papers, and he then admitted he had set the camera up to record.

The charging document stated, “He said that he was not sure what he was going to get or which girl was going to be in that room. He said it was stupid of him to do that. He said he never had thoughts like this before.”

Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the Prosecutors Office, said that Hayes will return to court for a case setting hearing on Sept. 10.