Columbus restaurant co-owner facing 23 felonies for allegedly recording in restrooms
A downtown Columbus restaurant is using social media to reassure customers it’s safe after its co-owner was charged with multiple felony counts related to illegally video-recording people there.
Dennis Cleveland “Landon” Thompson, 37, identified in police reports as working at The Animal Farm restaurant at 105 12th St., faces 11 counts of unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance, and six counts each of child sexual exploitation and of illegally installing recording devices, according to court records. He is being held without bond after a hearing Friday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
The allegations were reported Sept. 1. Thompson surrendered to police about 10 a.m. Thursday at the city’s Public Safety Center, and was booked into the Muscogee County Jail at 11:17 a.m., records show.
Owner responds
Thompson’s arrest report listed six victims for his alleged offenses, but a Columbus police news release Friday evening gave a breakdown of 11 victims: six underage girls, three women and two men.
Restaurant owner Hudson Terrell acknowledged Friday that he is one of them.
In an phone interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, Terrell said he discovered the videos stored on a restaurant computer, and went looking for the recording devices, finding them hidden in vents.
“We had turned it over to police within 30 minutes of finding it,” he said, explaining that he first tried to report it to the restaurant’s attorney, who has an office on Broadway, but then went to a neighboring lawyer’s office when his attorney was unavailable. The second lawyer called the police.
Terrell said he never touched the devices he found, leaving them for investigators to collect.
Though Thompson is part-owner of the restaurant, Terrell got a restraining order within days, to prohibit Thompson’s returning there, he said. Thompson hasn’t been back since, Terrell said.
Thompson’s attorney, Mark Post, said his client remains a co-owner of the business, whether he is allowed to be there or not.
The restaurant posted a Facebook message about the case Friday.
“As many have heard, one of our employees has been arrested for having hidden cameras in our restaurant restrooms,” it read, adding later: “He has since been removed from the restaurant and is not involved in any way with our business.”
The restaurant’s management has been working with police on the investigation, it said, noting that “many of our staff are victims in this too.”
Terrell said Friday afternoon that all 26 of his other employees are standing by the restaurant, and customers have pledged to continue dining there.
“Hudson, I am so sorry this happened to you and the restaurant,” one posted to Facebook, “but I admire you for your integrity and for going to the authorities immediately.”
Columbus police said anyone with more information on the case may contact the sex crimes unit at 706-225-3164.
This story was originally published September 30, 2022 at 4:00 PM.