Bar worker hides camera phone in ceiling vent to watch ‘attractive women’ in restroom
A dishwasher at a Queens bar hid his cell phone in the ladies room to spy on customers — but was foiled by one of the bar’s regulars who spotted it in a ceiling vent, cops and prosecutors said.
Hector-Miguel Ramirez-Vargas, a 31-year-old worker at Holy Guacamole on 31st St. at 36th Ave. in Long Island City, admitted he set up his cell phone camera in the loo when “attractive women” came in, court documents allege.
Cops caught up with Ramirez-Vargas this week, more than three months after he disappeared from the bar after a woman found his phone in a ceiling vent, prosecutors said.
Franco Solano, 34, the manager at Holy Guacamole, said one of the bar’s regulars went to the women’s restroom on Aug. 31, saw the camera phone, and asked, “Hey guys, why do you keep that camera in the bathroom?”
One of her friends grabbed the phone and went through the images in the camera, recognizing Ramirez-Vargas from his own photos stored on the phone.
Solano called the police, but Ramirez-Vargas made a run for it through a back patio.
“Since that night he never showed up,” he said. “We were telling the employees, if you see him just call the police.”
“They’re regular customers. Since that night happened, they never came back and I understand,” Solano lamented. “It’s not us. It’s this guy who made a big mistake.”
Cops caught up with Ramirez-Vargas on Wednesday, charging him with unlawful surveillance.
He told detectives he worked as a deliveryman and dishwasher, according to a criminal complaint.
“When I would see attractive women in the restaurant I would put my cell phone in the women’s bathroom to record them using the bathroom for my own personal pleasure,” he told cops, according to the complaint.
He remains held on $1,500 bond or $3,000 cash bail.