A Barry University law student is accused of placing hidden cameras in a public bathroom in Winter Park after his own professor identified him as the man shown planting the devices.
Nicolas Esparza, 27, of Orlando, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of video voyeurism and has pleaded not guilty, court records show. Police say he placed three cameras inside a bathroom in the courtyard of the Greeneda Court business center on Park Avenue, according to his arrest warrant affidavit.
Winter Park police began an investigation March 22 when an employee at Barnie’s Coffee & Tea Company, a business at Greeneda Court, found a camera in the bathroom facing the toilet from a hole where plumbing enters the wall. Two more cameras were found in the bathroom March 25 and April 28, the affidavit said.
Video recovered from the cameras show 18 people in various stages of disrobement, exposing genitalia and going to the toilet, including a minor and two infants. One of the victims wished to press charges, the affidavit said. Winter Park police said Friday that more charges may come as more victims are identified.
The footage also shows a person later identified as Esparza placing two of the cameras. He was wearing a Barry University School of Law sweatshirt in one of the videos. Police showed the footage to Esparza’s professor at the law school who identified him as the person in the video, the affidavit said.
Investigators have only reviewed footage from two of the cameras because of a technical error during data extraction from the first camera. Law enforcement is still trying to recover the data.
Traffic cameras also show Esparza’s gray Mazda SUV in the Winter Park area on two of the days cameras were found and the day before the remaining camera was found, according to the affidavit.
Street cameras show Esparza walking from a parking garage to a bathroom and then into Barnie’s Coffee, although it is unclear what date the footage is taken from or if it is the same bathroom. He ordered coffee and paid with a prepaid gift card, and the rewards points from the purchase was associated with his phone number, the affidavit said.
Winter Park police said Esparza is not an employee at any of the businesses in the area. Barnie’s Coffee released a statement Friday voicing their support for the investigation.
“Barnie’s Coffee values the safety of its customers and employees above everything else. We are concerned for the victims of these incidents,” the shop said. “We support local law enforcement and trust that they will act within the law to protect our community.”
This is the second sex crimes arrest in Orange County involving Barry’s law school in recent months.
Professor Glen-Peter Ahlers, 71, was arrested in February after at least hundreds of pornographic photos and videos of children were found on his hard drive. In some, children were bound and gagged while they were sexually abused, court records show.
Ahlers worked at Barry’s law campus in Orlando since 2002, according to his curriculum vitae. He was put on leave after his arrest, the university said at the time.