Greensburg man accused of video recording in bathroom stall at Hempfield restaurant

A Greensburg man was jailed this week after state police said he set up a cell phone to record inside a stall in a women’s restroom at a Hempfield restaurant.

Victor Perez, 28, was denied bail during an arraignment Thursday on charges of child pornography, invasion of privacy and related offenses. State police found 46 videos recorded on an iPhone hidden in a stall in the women’s restroom at Peking Garden where Perez worked, according to court papers.

A woman reported to state police Wednesday afternoon finding the iPhone when she took her 2-year-old daughter to the restroom at the restaurant. Perez admitted to investigators that the phone belonged to him and that he set it up to record videos for his pleasure, according to court papers.

The first of the 46 videos showed a woman using the stall on Nov. 22 until the most recent one Wednesday, police said. Trooper Steve Limani told TribLive news partner WTAE that investigators are trying to identify all of the people in the videos. Anyone who used a handicapped stall in the women’s restroom at Peking Garden in that time frame is encouraged to contact the Greensburg station at 724-832-3288.

“I feel confident as of right now that we don’t think any of these women made it onto the Internet, which obviously would be very concerning,” he told the news outlet. “It appears for right now that (the videos) stayed within his possession on that phone.”

Police are trying to determine if there are more videos than those they initially saw on the phone.

“The information right now, it seems that this phone was specifically used for videoing,” Limani told WTAE.

State police told the news station that Perez is from Guatemala. He spoke Spanish during at least part of the interview with troopers, according to court papers.

Perez was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 21. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records.