Spying on 69 men in cop bathroom gets clerk 6 years in jail, California prosecutor says
A former police records clerk in Southern California was sentenced to six years in jail Friday after he was charged with secretly recording dozens of coworkers as they used the bathroom.
The sentencing for 29-year-old Sergio Nieto came after he pleaded no contest to dozens of invasion of privacy charges in October for spying on 69 coworkers during his time working at the Long Beach Police Department’s downtown headquarters, the Long Beach Post reports.
Nieto will be on probation for five years after his release, according to the Post — and he faces more than 28 additional years in jail if he violates probation, with Judge Christopher J. Frisco telling him that “any slip-up and that’s probably what you’re going to get, and it won’t bother me in the least to give it to you.”
Nieto, a Downey resident, is also barred from coming within 100 yards of the Long Beach police headquarters or other police stations where he could encounter the dozens of victims, City News Service reports.
“This case was disturbing on many levels, but it is the complete betrayal of trust that many people cannot fathom,” Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said, per City News Service. “This is the most serious case of invasion of privacy I have seen in my 20 years as a prosecutor.”
Nieto was arrested in 2018 on 115 invasion of privacy charges after a coworker “reported suspicious activity in the men’s restroom” and an investigation revealed “Nieto had allegedly been photographing and recording other workers in the restroom of the police department … as they used the bathroom or changed,” KTLA reported earlier this year.
Authorities said Nieto used a cellphone to record the secret bathroom photos and videos over three months when he was using the restroom at the same time as coworkers, CBSLA reports.
“Part of Nieto’s job as a clerk was reportedly to review accidentally-recorded body cam footage filmed in places like bathrooms,” according to the TV station.
Supervising Deputy City Prosecutor Kay Watson said the crimes “really traumatized some of the victims,” according to City News Service. She said “many victims felt embarrassed, and some needed counseling. We hope this sends a strong message how wrong this conduct is.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Spying on 69 men in cop bathroom gets clerk 6 years in jail, California prosecutor says."
