GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — Detectives in Kent and Ottawa counties are trying to identify additional victims of a West Michigan man who allegedly confessed to recording upskirt videos of unsuspecting women.

At the same time, the Ottawa County victim whose call to police launched the investigation is sharing her experience.

“I felt sick to my stomach because I couldn’t believe that actually just happened,” wrote the woman, who did not want to be identified by name.

Mark Edwin Dykema, past Tulip Time chairman and prior owner of several Biggby Coffee shops, is charged in Kent and Ottawa counties, accused of trying to use his cellphone to shoot underneath women’s clothes.

Kent County sheriff’s detectives on Monday revealed a new location where Dykema allegedly recorded videos: Trader Joe’s on 28th Street in Kentwood in August. That’s in addition to three other locations, including Grand Rapids First church on 44th Street in Wyoming in the summer of 2022, a residence in Lowell Township and the Lowe’s store on Felch Street in Holland Township.

“This is a joint investigation with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and both counties have unidentified victims,” Sgt. Kailey Gilbert of the Kent County Sheriff’s Office wrote in an email to News 8.

Gilbert said detectives from both agencies are seeking to identify the unnamed victims and ask that anyone with information call Silent Observer at 616.774.2345, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office at 616.632.6125 or the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office at 616.738.4003.

Gilbert noted that Dykema was in “several different stores in Holland” in addition to the Lowe’s. 

“(HE) STARED RIGHT AT ME” 

The woman whose Aug. 19 call to the police started the investigation described to News 8 what occurred at Lowe’s in Holland Township.

“That day I was out shopping with my boyfriend and our daughter,” the woman wrote in a message to News 8.

She said her daughter started to get fussy, so her boyfriend took the child out to the car while she waited for a paint order to be filled. She said that’s when it happened.

“When he first brushed my shoulder and pretended to pick something up. I just kept staring at him and when he got further from me he turned back and stared right at me,” she wrote.

It was at that point that the woman said she felt sick to her stomach, though she began doubting herself when she returned to the car and told her boyfriend what happened. 

“He said I should call the police about it,” she wrote. “I told him, ‘I don’t know, what if he didn’t actually take a photo and it just seemed like it?’”

The woman said she and her boyfriend went back and forth until he made a point she could not refute.

“He said, ‘What if he’s taking photos of other women, or 13-year-old girls, think about them!’ That’s what made me build up the courage to call, although I was still nervous because I felt like they wouldn’t believe me,” the woman wrote.

She said a detective called her back a week later.

“(He told me) I was right to trust my instincts because he did take a photo of me and had other photos of women in his phone. I felt so relieved and full of different emotions knowing that he was caught, not just for myself but for other women who had this happen to them and had no idea they were a victim to his disgusting behavior. I hope his case isn’t taken lightly and he receives jail time because I believe a man like that will continue to do the same thing if not worse,” she wrote.

Detectives said Dykema confessed to the crime after they identified him through Lowe’s surveillance video.

According to court records, Dykema told investigators he has struggled with an addiction to pornography for years and had a device on his phone that blocked porn websites and monitored his activity. That’s when Dykema, according to detectives, decided to create his own pornography.

Dykema’s attorney, Rob Howard, told News 8 that his client is cooperating with investigators and hopes to resolve the criminal cases as soon as possible.

Dykema resigned his position as Tulip Time Festival chairman the month before he was charged. Howard said Dykema also sold his interest in the Biggby shops prior to the criminal charges being filed.

In total across both counties, Dykema faces five counts of using a computer (in this case a cellphone) to commit a crime, six counts of surveilling an unclothed person and one count of capturing, distributing an image of an unclothed person. The charges can carry up to four years in prison.