MIAMI, Fla. – An employee at a supermarket has been arrested after he was accused of placing his cell phone near a toilet after escorting a woman to the bathroom, according to police.
The incident happened on Thursday when police were called out to the Presidente Supermarket at 8100 North Miami Ave.
A female victim told police that she asked an employee, who police identified as 42-year-old Ranulfo Villeda, if she could use the store’s private bathroom. He then escorted her to the back and said he had to move boxes out of the restroom.
Investigators said that Villeda placed his phone inside a box with a hole in it, positioned it facing the toilet seat, left it recording and then exited the restroom.
The victim told police she entered the bathroom and “prior to taking any piece of clothing off,” according to the arrest form, she saw a cell phone camera lens inside a box through a hole. When she removed the cell phone from inside the box, she exited the bathroom, returned the phone to Villeda, and called police.
When police asked Villeda where his cell phone was, police reported that he responded: “I turned it off,” “I no longer have it,” I threw it out on the street, and “I put it away.”
The Hialeah man faces one count of video voyeurism.
The supermarket’s manager said Villeda had worked at the store for a number of years, but he is no longer employed there.