For two decades, the tiny, hidden cameras were positioned to catch "intimate moments" of the lives of at least three women living in a Montgomery County apartment building, according to prosecutors.

Yesterday, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman announced the arrest of Thomas Daley, a 45-year old Phoenixville man who owns 16 apartments in Norristown and is accused of spying on female tenants.

"The best way to describe it is just plain creepy," Ferman said of Daley's alleged voyeurism. "It's such a personal violation."

Ferman said Norristown police responded on Sept. 18 to a complaint from one of Daley's tenants in a four-unit building in the 500 block of Stanbridge Street.

The woman, who was crying when police arrived, told officers her boyfriend was changing a lightbulb in the apartment's bathroom and found a camera hidden behind the mirror, the criminal complaint said.

Police then found four other cameras in the apartment and called Daley when the wires to the "micro pinhole-style video camera" appeared to go down the wall into the basement, which only Daley could access, the complaint said.

Daley told police - who found multiple cameras in two other apartments - that he installed the cameras before the tenants moved in, the complaint said. Ferman said the fourth apartment, which had no cameras, was occupied by an elderly man.

Ferman said she believes the charges against Daley, which include more than a thousand counts of criminal use of a communication facility and invasion of privacy, represent "the tip of the iceberg."

She said that investigators are still interviewing potential victims and that more charges are likely.

"He could face decades in prison," she said.

Ferman said Daley, who owns several apartment buildings, admitted spying on female tenants for 20 years. The cameras were located in the women's bedrooms, bathrooms, and living rooms, Ferman said.

Investigators said one camera lens was the size of a screw and was attached to a ceiling fan Daley installed over one tenant's bed. Some of the cameras "were activated when the lights switch to that room was turned on," the complaint said.

Daley, who told detectives he was "self-taught," initially used primitive VHS equipment but gradually introduced devices such as digital recorders, Ferman said. He told police he could access the cameras from his home computer, the complaint said.

"As technology advanced, so did he," said Ferman.

After investigators initially questioned Daley, they found him with equipment he had removed from apartments.

"He had made an effort to conceal what he had done," said Ferman.

The criminal complaint said the women viewed the secret recordings for the purpose of identifying themselves.

"At your most intimate times, at your most intimate moments . . . they never knew they were being filmed," said Ferman. "It's really troubling."

Daley, who was arrested on Friday, is in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post $1 million cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Monday before Magisterial District Judge Francis Lawrence.