STORE EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH INVASION OF PRIVACY
An employee of an area grocery store has been charged with allegedly recording a 60-year-old woman in the store’s restroom.
The incident took place at the McKeever’s Price Chopper in Parkville at 9107 Hwy. 45 in the afternoon of Thursday, Sept 22.
The Platte County Prosecutor’s Office has charged a man identified in online court records as Bruno A. Barrera, age 29, of Kansas City. Barrera is charged with a felony count of invasion of privacy.
According to court documents, the woman told police she had been shopping at the store around 1:30 p.m. that day and entered the restroom near the deli area. She told police that while inside one of the bathroom stalls, she noticed someone’s feet/shoes standing in the stall next to hers. She told police that she looked up to notice there was someone holding a cell phone over the wall of the stall, possibly recording video of her using the restroom.
The woman provided a description of the footwear and of the ball cap the person was wearing. She told police she had seen a store employee in the deli department wearing the same shoes and ball cap.
Parkville police were able to contact an employee in the deli department, and identified him as Barrera. According to court documents, Barrera allegedly confessed that he had followed the woman into the restroom and filmed her on his cell phone. Court documents indicate Barrera initially told police his cell phone was at home but then removed it from his pants pocket. The phone was recovered by police.
According to court documents, police say Barrera, under further questioning, confessed to at least eight other similar incidents at the store involving different women. Court documents allege Barrera admitted to filming the women in the women’s restroom without their consent, later using the recorded footage for self-gratification.
Barrera told police he did not know any of the women he recorded.
After his bond had originally been set at $7,500 cash-only, Barrera requested a bond modification. At a hearing on Tuesday morning, Judge Quint Shafer approved Barrera’s release on his own recognizance without objection from prosecutors. Barrera was released to his father. He will be under GPS monitoring, confined to his residence and may only leave “for the necessities of life,” according to court documents. He must have no contact with the victim or the premises where the alleged crime took place, court records indicate.
A tentative preliminary hearing for Barrera is scheduled for Nov. 8.