Police: Taekwondo instructor hid cameras in students’ bathroom

PEMBROKE PINES — The owner of a martial arts school hid two cameras in the bathroom that students used at his Pembroke Pines dojo, police said Saturday.

Robert Danilo Franco, 64, who has run Master Franco’s Taekwondo Academy at 11090 Pines Blvd. since 2011, was in a Broward jail Saturday afternoon, charged with three counts of video voyeurism and one count of tampering with evidence.

Police said a female student confronted him July 29 about strategically placed cameras in the bathroom. The cameras were “discreetly placed within picture frames on a shelf located in the academy’s restroom,” according to a Pembroke Pines Police Department news release. “The female student photographed the hidden cameras and confronted Robert Danilo Franco, who in turn destroyed the picture frames and hidden cameras.”

According to the charges listed on the sheriff ’s office website, the student was age “19 or over.”

Franco surrendered Friday night and remained in custody Saturday. Bond was set at $20,000.

Police are asking “anyone who may have attended or visited, or whose children attended or visited Master Franco’s Taekwondo Academy”

to come forward if the restroom was used. It was not clear from the information provided by police whether the restroom where the cameras were located was exclusively used by women or whether there were any recordings seized as part of the investigation.

A phone call to the school Saturday was not answered. Franco identified himself on the outgoing message. Although Franco has an attorney, he or she is not identified on available public records.

According to the school’s website, Franco is a former U.S. Marine and a fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo who has taught martial arts to New York City police officers.