A San Ysidro woman has filed a civil lawsuit against her former boss after she says he allegedly filmed her in the bathroom of their workplace without her consent.
The woman was a former employee of the State Farm Insurance office located on Beyer Street in San Ysidro. She spoke with NBC 7’s sister station, Telemundo 20 after filing the civil lawsuit.
"Just to think that there are people like that out there," said the woman who preferred not to reveal her identity. She says she has lived in fear and distrust since September.
“I go into the bathroom, I stand at the door and what I do is I look at the wall charger, turn off the light, turn it on, and I see a reflection, like something flashed," she told Telemundo 20 in Spanish.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
That is when she says she goes to unplug it and sees that there is an SD Card in the back.
"If you pulled down your pants to use the bathroom, that charger was able to record everything," she said.
The woman identified her former boss as State Farm Insurance Agent Miguel Romo. Telemundo 20 reached out to Romo by phone and in person for a statement but did not receive a response.
Local
San Diego Police conducted a search with a warrant at the insurance office of Romo on Sept. 28 after the accuser filed a police report. Telemundo 20 asked police for more details but said they could not provide more details pending the ongoing investigation.
How to file a complaint against your employer
The San Diego employment office that has jurisdiction over San Diego, Imperial and Orange counties has resources for people who are victims of workplace harassment. You can schedule an appointment to speak with an expert on the public portal https://publicportal.eeoc.gov/ or https://www.eeoc.gov/.
You can also call 1-800-669-4000 and people who are deaf or hard of hearing can contact EEOC by videophone at 1-844-234-5122.
The woman then decided to hire a lawyer.
"We want to make sure this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated. Any worker should have the right to do their job without fear of being embarrassed or being recorded without her consent, especially in the bathroom," explained Hugo Salazar, the lawyer in the case.
State Farm Insurance sent Telemundo 20 the following statement:
“We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and will be investigating this in connection with the independent contractor relationship between the agent and State Farm.”
Meanwhile, the mother said she not only fears for her privacy but also for that of her children.
"My fear was that my kids would be in those videos and I don't know what kind of person that person is," she said.
On what motivated the courage to speak with Telemundo 20, she said: I believe that everybody has the right to speak out and anyone that has gone thru something like this shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about it and bring it up to the public.
She also said she would have to start over, as this was her first job as an insurance agent after struggling for 10 years.
This story was originally reported by NBC 7's sister station, Telemundo 20. To read the article, click here.
