Victims of a voyeurism incident on Expedia’s corporate campus filed a class-action lawsuit against international security company Securitas on Monday, alleging negligence over the firm’s handling of spy cameras found in bathrooms.
Attorneys with Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala accused Securitas of recklessly mishandling reports from Expedia employees who told security officers they believed cameras were installed under the sink in a single-use all-gender bathroom at the company’s headquarters in Seattle, according to court documents filed in King County Superior Court.
Expedia contracted Securitas for security services on its campus in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood.
The first report came from an employee in early December 2023 but attorneys said no action to remove the cameras was taken until mid-January, when another employee made a report and law enforcement was notified.
More than 60 victims have been identified in the criminal case against former Expedia employee Marcelo Vargas-Fernandez, who was charged with four counts of first-degree voyeurism in February.
Vincent Nappo, a partner at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, said in a news release that while Vargas-Fernandez was being prosecuted, his firm was unaware of any action being taken against Securitas.
“Through this civil lawsuit, we intend to hold Securitas accountable for its careless and reckless acts that allowed the perpetrator to commit these crimes under its watch, including for more than a month after the security threat was first reported,” he said.
Securitas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After an employee reported to security officers on Dec. 4, 2023, that what looked like cameras were attached underneath a sink in a bathroom, attorneys allege an officer said the device could have been a component of the automatic soap dispenser. When the employee disagreed, the officer said to file a report.
Shortly after the report was filed, two security officers inspected the bathroom and one next to it, finding the cameras in both, according to court documents. They took photos of both, left the cameras in place and took no further action.
The employee went back to the bathroom and saw they were removed, which the security officers denied doing. Documents filed in the criminal case allege Vargas-Fernandez removed the cameras after they were discovered and waited a month to reinstall them.
On Jan. 11, the first employee received a text message from another employee saying they had found a camera as well. One employee blocked the bathroom while the other notified Securitas staff. Lawyers said Vargas-Fernandez tried to enter the bathrooms before security officers arrived. Officers confronted him but he denied ever being in the area.
The same day, Securitas staff contacted the Seattle Police Department. Police officers found Vargas-Fernandez on surveillance footage entering both bathrooms on Jan. 11, holding items that looked like the devices found under the sinks, according to court documents.
Police arrested Vargas-Fernandez in February, obtained a search warrant for his home and found 33 additional cameras, 22 memory cards and six hard drives. After a sweep of Expedia’s grounds, officers found cameras in five other bathrooms and underneath multiple workstations.
Court documents said the cameras recorded hundreds of people throughout Expedia’s campus, most of them exposed in the bathrooms.
During the time frame when the cameras were up, attorneys also said Expedia hosted a campus event with employees, vendors and guests visiting the offices from outside Seattle.
“We will be scrutinizing every aspect of Securitas’ mishandling of this case and do everything in our power to understand the full scope of the security breach, hold Securitas accountable to the many victims it harmed, and take all reasonable steps to obtain and destroy the illicit video footage,” said Jason Amala, a partner at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala.
Alex Halverson: 206-652-6352 or ahalverson@seattletimes.com.
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