Cops: Bathroom voyeur arrested, put hidden camera in 3 medical facilities

WEST PALM BEACH – A man taken into custody in connection with the discovery of a small camera hidden inside a bathroom at a West Palm Beach hospital placed that same camera in restrooms at two other medical facilities, according to investigators.

A search turned up more than a million still and video images, police said, though it’s not known how many were secretly taken.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security arrested Rudelmiro Santizo Perez, 41, of Rivera Beach, in Houston on Monday, police said.

Perez was trying to flee to his native Guatemala, West Palm Beach Police Detective Molly Anderson told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

His arrest follows an investigation that began Oct. 3 when a hidden camera was found inside an employee bathroom at St. Mary’s Medical Center, 901 45th St.

Seeking leads that ultimately resulted in tips from Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County, investigators released two digital images of bathrooms that were found on the camera. The images did not match any of the hospital’s restrooms, according to police.

Perez worked as a technician who took CT scans at St. Mary’s and PET scans at a medical facility outside Delray Beach and one in Boca Raton, Anderson said. (A CT scan is made up of a series of X-ray images, while a PET scan is an imaging technique that uses a radioactive tracer.)

Whether the Boca Raton and Delray Beach-area facilities were other hospitals or other types of diagnostic offices wasn’t immediately known.

However,

Anderson said

Perez was the only employee known to work at all three places.

“It was just one camera and he would take it from his shift, from what I’m assuming, and place it during his shifts,” Anderson said.

Because of the multiple locations, the ongoing investigation now also includes Boca Raton police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.

Perez, who has a wife and children in Palm Beach County, will be brought from Texas to South Florida to face the eight counts of video voyeurism already filed and likely a number of additional charges resulting from the investigation.

Anderson said she feels bad for anyone who may have been victimized by Perez and said bathrooms have become another place where privacy, though expected, may not be a reality.

Sun Sentinel news partner WPEC-CBS12 contributed to this report.