UCPD arrested Alfredo Mendez, a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student, Thursday on three counts of unlawful recording of residents using the restrooms and showers in Unit 1’s Cheney Hall.
At about 11:30 p.m. on March 29, a victim was in a restroom stall and saw, beneath the stall partition, a cell phone with its camera facing up being extended from the adjacent stall, according to a UCPD crime alert. The victim left the stall and waited for the suspect to leave the adjacent stall. When the suspect exited, the victim recognized the suspect as Mendez, who was a resident on the same floor, the alert said.
The victim reported the incident to UCPD the next morning, according to UCPD spokesperson Lt. Marc DeCoulode.
UCPD seized Mendez’s phone, laptop and several CDs and DVDs, according to the crime alert. Upon investigation, UCPD identified two additional cases of unlawful recording, which brought the total number of victims to three.
Although the evidence is still under review, DeCoulode does not believe there are other victims.
According to DeCoulode, it appears that the recordings were not distributed.
Mendez was booked into Santa Rita Jail on Thursday afternoon, and his bail was set at $15,000. He was a resident in Cheney Hall but no longer resides in university housing, DeCoulode said.
A similar incident was reported last year, when a UC Berkeley student was arrested for voyeurism — watching someone naked without his or her consent — in Maximino Martinez Commons.
Jason Do, who was 19 at the time, was arrested in May 2014 on six counts of peeping with electronic equipment. Two residents in Martinez Commons reported being recorded by a cell phone while showering. Police named Do as a suspect in both cases and found evidence suggesting that Do had filmed other residents as well.
Those with information about Mendez or the incidents are encouraged to contact the UCPD Criminal Investigation Bureau.