Spyridon Voulgarakis from Florida was arrested for apparently setting up a camera in the men’s lavatory of a coffee shop named, “We Spy Coffee & More,” and spying on whoever enters the restroom at the café.
Voulgarakis was arrested by the Tarpon Springs Police Department on March 11 and charged with battery and video voyeurism.
After making the discovery, the customer confronted Voulgarakis, who was identified by police as an employee and business partner of “We Spy Coffee & More.”
During the investigation, Voulgarakis admitted to the police that he placed the camera under the sink and recorded the victim and other men using the restroom.
The investigation into the matter is currently ongoing. Spy café would be a great show it it was not for the restroom spying.
Café Voyeurism
This is the act of recording an individual in a private area without their consent. A “private area” in this case would be a non-public space or a space where an individual would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a public bathroom or fitting room.
18 U.S.C. 1801 states that, “whoever, in the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, has the intent to capture an image of a private area of someone without their consent, and knowingly does so under circumstances in which they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”
18 U.S.C. 1801 was ordered by the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004. Congress passed this act to address privacy issues arising from new technology—among them:
- The production and spread of camera phones and other small video devices that could capture images without the knowledge of the person being videotaped;
- The escalating practice of capturing “upskirting” and “down blousing of innocent women and sharing them via text or the Internet; and
- Many states didn’t have laws overtly criminalizing this behavior.
NOTE: Photo is from Pexels
