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An employee at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) secretly recorded his male coworkers in an employees-only bathroom over 140 times according to charges filed this week.
Michael Lamar Maceda-Tapia, 36, was charged with 11 gross-misdemeanor counts of interference with privacy in connection with the incidents at the airport. He had been recording men since February. The St. Paul resident was charged by summons and is due in court July 17th.
The StarTribune is reporting that Maceda-Tapia worked for Detroit-based Midfield Concession Enterprises, which is a dining services provider. The airport revoked his security badge on February 16th, preventing him from working at the airport in the future.
According to the criminal complaint:
On Feb. 16, airport police were alerted by a visibly shaken employee that Maceda-Tapia had attempted to take photos of him from under the stall in the men’s bathroom below Gate E2 in Terminal 1. The reporting party said Maceda-Tapia was still in the bathroom. Police confronted Maceda-Tapia, who acknowledged being in the bathroom. While under arrest, he told police he began working at the airport in May 2022 and had been taking videos in two employee bathrooms below Concourse E “for a few months.”
Detectives obtained a search warrant for his phone and had it analyzed. 143 videos were found. They were taken inside airport bathrooms between August 11, 2022 and February 14th. The videos show men “at various stages using the bathroom.” Additionally, there were photos taken inside a bathroom stall and others of airport closed-circuit videos showing a male passenger at a coffee shop “with low pants exposing his [buttocks].” Maceda-Tapia told police he never shared his content with anyone else.
At least 10 of the alleged victims have been identified by matching the timestamps on the videos with the airport’s electronic door badge system and security camera footage. These men confirmed their identities when shown screenshots from the videos.
Anthony’s Take: You should not have to worry about being recorded while using the bathroom. Hopefully, Maceda-Tapia gets a fitting punishment and is also provided the help he needs so that this behavior does not reoccur in the future.
(Image Credit: Laszlo Regos Photography.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
