Man charged after "spy cam" pen found in bathroom at Dolphin Mall, police say
An employee of a store in the Dolphin Mall is accused of planting a "spy cam" in a bathroom, according to Sweetwater police.
On May 11, officers were called to The Cosmetic Company store, where they met a manager identified as Evelyn Gonzalez. She told them that a sales associate found a pen that has a camera inside in the employee bathroom.
According to police, Gonzalez said they determined that the camera pen belonged to another employee, 28-year-old Bernardo Pellicer-Dorta.
Gonzalez said the pen was found at the bottom of a cleaning supply cart in the bathroom with the lens pointed at the toilet area, according to police.
"While the victim was in there, she noticed she was in the stall and looked at something that perhaps was odd and then she looked closer and noticed it was a pen that had a camera inside pointing toward the toilet. She immediately grabbed it and that's when it showed it turns off," said Alvaro Zabaleta, Executive Director for the City of Sweetwater.
The sales associate who found the camera pen said Pellicer-Dorta admitted it was his and tried to snatch it away from her, according to his arrest report.
Employee gives his side of the story
During questioning, Pellicer-Dorta said he would keep it in his jacket pocket so he could record the store because he thought the other employees were talking about him and he was going to be fired soon, according to police.
Pellicer-Dorta allegedly told investigators that when he went to the bathroom, he took his jacket off and the camera pen must have accidentally fallen out and he didn't realize it. He added that at no point did he intend to record anyone, according to his arrest report.
During the investigation, police found a second person who had used the bathroom multiple times after Pellicer-Dorta had been in there.
Sheriff's investigators said videos from the camera pen show Pellicer-Dorta in the bathroom with it in his hand, looking for spots on the cleaning cart where he could place it. He allegedly moved the pen multiple times and then put it in the bottom of the cart with the lens pointed at the toilet seat, according to police.
Another video shows the sales associate who found it enter the bathroom, stand in front of the toilet and begin to pull her pants down, according to the report. Moments later, she spots the pen and grabs it.
After speaking with the witnesses and viewing the videos, Pellicer-Dorta was taken into custody. He's facing one count of battery and two counts of video voyeurism.
