Next time you use a public bathroom, you might want to check to see how much privacy you really have.
An employee of Oregon State University has been accused of recording unsuspecting men who were indulging in a bit of ‘self-love’ in a public bathroom stall.
According to the Albany Democrat-Herald, Andres Lazaro Lopez was arraigned this past Monday on a felony count of first-degree invasion of privacy and two misdemeanor counts of second-degree invasion of privacy.
The college website lists Lopez as a Student Success Assistant Coordinator.
The incident apparently took place in a sixth floor men’s room at a university library last May.
Lopez allegedly utilized a pencil-sized hole in a bathroom stall wall to record men with his phone who thought they were masturbating in private.
After being reported to the Oregon State Police, a search warrant was obtained to seize and search Lopez’s phone last August.
Lt. Craig Flierl, the commander of the OSU division of the Oregon State Police, told the Democrat-Herald that the peek holes had been repaired.
“The university didn’t waste any time in preventing that from happening again,” said Flierl.
Lopez pleaded not guilty during his arraignment this week and his lawyer, Joshua E. Hunking, claims his client’s actions may have been ‘misinterpreted.’
In fact, Hunking appeared to assert that the incidents were ‘consensual.’
“Cruising has sprung up as one way that gay men can engage in consensual sex interactions while attempting to avoid social and criminal judgement for those innately human acts,” Hunking told the Democrat-Herald in an email.
“I encourage the general public to reserve judgment in this case as we work toward a resolution.”
Lopez is scheduled to return to court on February 11.
There’s never an excuse for
There’s never an excuse for invading a person’s privacy by recording them in a public restroom and no it is not cruising to record someone, but there is an easy solution: don’t jerk off in a public restroom.