Former restaurant employee accused of taking videos inside women’s restroom
A former employee of a South Strabane Township restaurant was arrested this week for allegedly taking videos of women in the restroom while he cleaned it.
Eliber Marcos-Espinoza, 23, of 16 S. Wade Ave., East Washington, had allegedly used a cellphone to take videos of women who used the restroom at Plaza Azteca at Trinity Point.
Township police Sgt. Michael Manfredi said a woman was in a restroom stall Wednesday afternoon when she saw a hand holding a cellphone appear under the stall divider. The cellphone appeared to be taking a video, according to the criminal complaint. Marcos-Espinoza had been the employee who was cleaning the bathroom that day, the complaint said, and told police he had been in the restroom with the woman that day.
When police searched his phone, they found a video of the woman along with a similar video from weeks ago that “appeared to have been taken from within the women’s restroom,” the complaint said.
Police said Marcos-Espinoza admitted to making the video, “but could not explain why or how it happened.”
He was charged with two counts of invasion of privacy and two counts of disorderly conduct. He was arraigned Wednesday night by District Judge Ethan Ward and jailed on $10,000 bond. Marcos-Espinoza is an undocumented immigrant from Guatamala, Manfredi said.
A Plaza Azteca manager said Marcos-Espinoza was “fired on the spot” when the allegations surfaced.
In a written statement issued Thursday, South Strabane Township police Chief Drew Hilk said, “At this point in the investigation, we have not discovered any additional video that reveals the identity of any additional victims or depicts any women in a full state of undress. Additionally, at this time, we have no reason to believe that any devices remain in the Plaza Azteca, or were used by Marcos-Espinoza.”