An Upper Merion man faces new charges for ‘depraved sexual acts’ after breaking into his neighbor’s apartment, police say

An Upper Merion man who investigators say broke into his neighbor’s home and placed hidden cameras near her bed also filmed himself stealing her underwear and sex toys for his sexual gratification, according to new charges filed Tuesday at his preliminary hearing.

Ryan Selleny, 27, faces additional counts of burglary and trespassing, as well as reckless endangerment and indecent assault for what prosecutors described as “depraved sexual acts” that included putting his bodily fluids on the victim’s underwear and into juice and water she later unknowingly drank.

His attorney, Richard Coble, said prosecutors had failed to provide enough evidence to prove his client had done what they alleged, saying Selleny’s face was visible in only some of the footage.

But Magisterial District Judge Patrick Krouse was not swayed, and held Selleny for trial on all charges, sending the case up to a Montgomery County Court judge in Norristown. Selleny was being held on $1 million bail.

Selleny broke into the victim’s home at the Kingswood Apartments five times between Oct. 30 and March 24, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. During one burglary, he stole the woman’s spare key, which officers said they later recovered in Selleny’s apartment in the complex along with her missing underwear and sex toys.

He would often wait, prosecutors said, until the victim had left her home, and obsessively filmed himself throughout each home invasion.

In several of those videos, played during Tuesday’s proceeding, Selleny recorded himself masturbating and also provided excited commentary when he discovers the victim’s vibrator, underwear, and other items.

One video, filmed inside Selleny’s bedroom in his apartment across from the victim’s, depicted him wondering aloud what the victim was doing, and excitedly describing how he was going to set up “spy cameras” to record her without her knowledge.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel, speaking after the hearing, said the impact Selleny’s actions had on the victim is staggering.

“It’s really hard to articulate the level of intrusion into this victim’s home, safety, and security,” Marvel said. “Sometime the way the law reads doesn’t seem adequate to describe how much of an invasion of privacy this was.”

Police said the victim contacted them March 24 to report that she had found an unusual USB charging device plugged into an outlet in her kitchen, the affidavit said. The woman said she didn’t recognize the device, and had not given anyone permission to put it there.

Upon close inspection, detectives found that the device contained a hidden camera to record footage, as well as an SD card to store the footage, according to the affidavit.

On that SD card, investigators found videos that showed the woman in various states of undress, the affidavit said.

Another video on the card depicted Selleny masturbating on the woman’s bed into a jug of water he had taken from her fridge. Selleny then mixed the liquid and put the jug back.

The woman told police Selleny had approached her the Friday before she discovered the camera and asked her out to dinner, the affidavit said. The woman said she politely declined, but agreed to give him her phone number because he was insistent and she felt uncomfortable.

He later texted her, asking her out again. Using his phone number, and the physical description provided by the woman, police were able to match Selleny with the man seen on the video clip.

After serving a search warrant for Selleny’s apartment, detectives discovered additional hidden-camera devices, as well as a lock-picking set, the affidavit said.

Additional videos taken from Selleny’s cell phone showed him entering the woman’s apartment for the first time, learning her name from pieces of mail she had left behind, and masturbating into a carton of mango juice she had left in her refrigerator.