Psst! I-spy goes retail at San Marcos store From customers who didn't want to be identified to the technicians removing the ceiling tiles in order to hide minicameras, American Surveillance & Security had the look and feel of a super-secret I-spy store this week. Mike Sepiol's store, American Surveillance & Security in San Marcos, sells a number of surveillance items for would-be gumshoes in North County, including this mini pinhole camera. The balloons floating above Raggedy Ann's head aren't as innocuous as they appear. The center balloon contains a hidden camera recording all that passes in front of it. It may have seemed like everybody at the San Marcos store was up to something, and maybe they were, but mum was the operative word. Have no fear, however, this is an above-board company selling to the public everything from nanny cams, baby cams and I-think-my-husband-is-cheating cams to wireless transmitters, stealth dog-barking alarms, covert pen microphones and voice scramblers. Yes, it's all legal, even if many of the customers aren't thrilled about being revealed ญญ for whatever the reason. American Surveillance & Security is the only company in San Diego County selling the I-spy stuff favored by surveillance professionals and avid amateurs. Aside from a Los Angeles company, it's the only one in Southern California, too. For Mike Sepiol, company owner, it's a growing niche and one that brings the secret surveillance set out of the woodwork, for awhile anyway, and into his store to stock up on the latest hush-hush gadgetry in order to do whatever it is they have to do sub rosa. Last year, the million-dollar electrical contracting and surveillance-system installation company, which employs eight technicians and salespeople on San Marcos Boulevard, added about $100,000 in revenue selling this stuff that spies out of clocks, pinholes, smoke alarms, Raggedy Ann dolls, lamps ญญ pretty much anything you can name, there's a chance a minicamera is hidden inside. "I've been an electrical contractor for more than 20 years and kept getting calls from people looking for nanny cameras and baby cameras," Sepiol said, as he sat in a back office surrounded by active video monitors, computer equipment and ญญ well, he'll never tell. "So, 10 years ago we went into the retail end," Sepiol said. "Some members of the public may have a real need for the nanny cams to check on things," said Mike Swilley, an Oceanside investigator. "People have to be aware that they can film from a public place but not in somebody else's private property." A lot of the equipment is in the $200 to $300 range, such as the camera-in-a-clock-radio that may or may not actually play music in addition to taking video pictures. Or the wall clock camera a dentist used in his office to watch the reception area "to see if someone was waiting too long," Sepiol said. Well, that's what the dentist said anyway, Sepiol added with a knowing wink. Then, there's the pinhole camera the size of a quarter that "a doctor, worried about people rifling through his desk, installed in a three-ring binder," Sepiol continued. "He put this thing in place and caught the person who did it in one day." That costs $198. Or the pager camera for $288 that private investigators seem to love. "One of the PIs was on a workers' compensation case, and the guy went into a go-go club ญญ well, topless bar," Sepiol said. "The guy was dancing, hopping around, and the PI was just sitting there recording it all through the pager." The company has a Web site, but most of the customers are of the walk-in variety who want to play with the equipment before buying. Are they worth it? American Surveillance & Security customers will never tell. "Er, I was riding down the road and thought, 'What in the world would they have in a spy shop?'" said a man, who shook his head no, adding, "no thanks," when asked to identity himself. The "customer" then quickly exited the store, his movement captured on an exit-sign camera, price tag: $429. "Sometimes we go to places where we don't want people to know who we are," Sepiol added, presenting a card that resembled American Surveillance & Security's in every way, with the exception of a rather innocuous-sounding name. Other oddities at the spy shop include Rex the Barking Dog, at $96.99. Not only doesn't Rex make a mess, but he has the useful ability to look through solid wood with a radar system, activate a motion detector, then start barking ever louder the closer the intruder or guest ญญ your call ญญ gets. Sepiol also sells mini bug detectors, wireless microphones, digital tone modulation frequency detectors that can identify phone numbers whether caller-ID is blocked or not, telephone scramblers, telephone descramblers, and surveillance books. "I've got one book on how to build a bug-proof room and one book on how to bug a room," Sepiol said. "We're kind of like attorneys. After a while, you get them coming and you get them going." North County Times DAN WEISMAN Staff Writer WALDO NILO/Staff Photographer