Photo: Edward Kimmel via Flickr
Dec. 21, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
A College Point man who works at LaGuardia Airport was arrested earlier this week after allegedly using his cellphone to record a woman using an airport bathroom, according to the Queens District Attorney.
Samuel Rodriguez, 39, was charged with second-degree unlawful surveillance—a felony—and is accused of hiding his phone inside a bathroom’s paper towel dispenser in an attempt to record a woman who had just stepped inside the restroom.
His arrest came after the victim went inside the airport bathroom, a one-stall unisex restroom, just after 9 p.m. on Dec. 19, right after Rodriguez stepped out.
The victim then heard a beeping sound moments after entering the restroom, and spotted the hidden cellphone inside the paper towel dispenser—where the noise was coming from.
She then picked up the phone and was able to play back the most recent video clip, which allegedly shows Rodriguez placing the phone inside the dispenser, according to the Queens DA.
The phone, furthermore, was allegedly angled to capture anyone using the toilet.
Rodriguez was eventually approached by law enforcement, and apparently told authorities that he was trying to record “pretty girls.”
“I know what this is about and I’m sorry” Rodriguez said, according to the DA, and adding, “I was trying to video pretty girls. I was going to masturbate to it at home.”
Richard Brown, Queens District Attorney, said Rodriguez is accused of “an egregious invasion of privacy in an attempt to satisfy his news sexual desires.”
“The victim was literally saved by the bell when the defendant’s cell phone alarm began to buzz and she spotted the hidden phone,” Brown said. “This kind of depravity will not be tolerated in Queens County and the defendant now faces prison time for his alleged actions.”
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One Comment
Well, he was forthcoming about it at least. Never saw anyone be so…open.