A Pennsylvania State Police employee faces criminal charges after investigators said he used his cellphone camera to secretly record a woman engaged in a sex act in her Sinking Spring apartment then shared it with one of their co-workers via Snapchat.
Isaias Espinoza, 31, of Bangor, Northampton County, was free to await a hearing following arraignment Friday afternoon before District Judge Ann L. Young.
Espinoza was charged with unlawful dissemination of an intimate image following an investigation by the state police Internal Affairs Division.
According to the probable cause affidavit:
State police began investigating after another co-worker informed the woman that a trooper was talking about a video Espinoza had sent him of Espinoza and the woman engaged in a sex act.
The woman, who is also a state police employee, told investigators that the trooper who was heard talking about the video is the person who introduced her to Espinoza in April. She and Espinoza exchanged texts and phone calls for about two weeks before meeting in person.
He came to her apartment, where they ordered dinner and had sex.
They planned another date for about two weeks later in which Espinoza would spend the night in her apartment.
On that date, they again met in her apartment and walked to a nearby bar. After some drinks, they returned to the apartment and had sex. She recalled Espinoza asking to make a recording of them engaged in a sex act, but she refused.
The following day, during a phone conversation with the trooper who introduced them, she expressed that she had a good time with Espinoza. The trooper stated that he already knew that, and when she asked him what he meant, he said that Espinoza had sent him a video. However, he wouldn’t reveal details about the video.
The woman called Espinoza and asked if he took any intimate photos or videos of her, and he repeatedly denied it.
It wasn’t detailed in the affidavit how the matter got the attention of Internal Affairs.
On June 15 — the same week the woman learned the trooper was heard talking about the contents of the video with co-workers — an investigator submitted a preservation request to Snap Inc. for the content of Espinoza’s account as well as the trooper’s.
A search warrant was later obtained for Snapchat for the specific communications between Espinoza and the trooper for the late April night in question.
The trooper was interviewed and described the video as the woman performing a sex act on Espinoza.
Espinoza was interviewed Aug. 28 with his attorney present. He admitted taking a video of the woman performing the sex act on him and sending the video to the trooper, without asking for her consent to disseminate the video.
He further admitted to sending the video to three other individuals.