A Tempe high school employee is facing voyeurism charges after police said he misused school security footage to spy on undressed girls.
Prosecutors say Antony Cruz, 28, downloaded videos of female students
in a changing room at Corona del Sol High School in southern Tempe.
Authorities believe the school "inadvertently" left on the security cameras, as the area was temporarily being used while the locker room was closed for renovations.
When Cruz first found the videos, he didn't notify school officials or law enforcement, prosecutors said in court documents. Instead he watched the footage for weeks in July, downloaded video clips ranging from 4 minutes to 2 hours long, and eventually viewed the videos and photos from his home in Phoenix on a Saturday.
School authorities told parents via email that Cruz was placed on administrative leave prior to the workday on Aug. 21, and that they believe the misconduct was isolated to one camera on campus.
"We know that this is a distressing situation and these details are unsettling to our families," wrote Stacia Wilson, Tempe Union High School District superintendent. "We want to be as transparent as we are allowed to be without disrupting Tempe PD’s investigation."
Tempe police said their investigators were working to identify and contact people who may have been affected, and will reach out directly to parents if they determine their child was involved.
"We understand how difficult and concerning the situation is for parents and families," the department wrote in a statement on social media Aug. 24. "Due to the sensitivity of the investigation, we are unable to confirm or deny over the phone whether a specific student was involved."
Prosecutors say Cruz admitted to the behavior in interviews.
He told investigators he discovered the footage during the first week of school. He planned to tell someone that the cameras had been left on, he said, but never did.
Cruz said it felt wrong looking at the photos and videos at home, since he knew the girls were only teenagers: "Freshman and sophomores," he told investigators.
But he organized the videos into clips, focusing on frames where girls' breasts were exposed. He told investigators he looked at the images 50 times.
During the interview Cruz also began talking about sexual online games where images could be used to make "sex robots" who have fantasy relationships with the viewer, prosecutors say.
Investigators asked whether he had used pictures of the high schoolers for those games. He said he had not.
Megan Sterling with the Tempe Union High School District said the district isn't yet discussing the case at length with media, to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing police investigation.
Cruz was arrested and booked into a Tempe city jail on Aug. 22. He has been charged with seven counts of voyeurism.
He has hearings scheduled for Aug. 28 and Aug. 31.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tempe high school employee accused of spying on undressed girls
