Just Lookin'

Man Claims He Hid Camera To See If His Stepdaughter Had Pelvic Tattoos

After a hidden camera was found in the ceiling vent of his stepdaughter’s bathroom, a Florida man told cops that he placed it there in order to determine whether the 22-year-old woman had received “tattoos in her pelvic area,” according to a police report.

The camera was found yesterday by the woman in the Bradenton home she shares with her mother and stepfather, Arnoldo Martinez, 54. The woman “pulled out the camera and started to investigate,” deputies noted in a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report.

After discovering the camera, the woman “located where the camera was plugged into an extension cord in the attic and then contacted police.” When an officer subsequently explained that a receiver was needed to view images captured by the camera,” the woman “entered her parents room” and “located a receiver plugged into her parents TV.”

Martinez, who investigators summoned from work, admitted that he “placed the camera in the vent in order to view [the woman’s] tattoos and report them back to her mother.” He also acknowledged that one storage card contained video of his stepdaughter recorded the prior evening.

According to investigators, Martinez admitted that he was aware that the surreptitious filming was illegal, but that he “wanted evidence that [his stepdaughter] did have tattoos in her pelvic area.” He added that a seized recording contained “images of her naked but he could only really view her breasts in the video.”

Pictured in the above mug shot, Martinez was charged with felony video voyeurism since he allegedly installed the camera to secretly view and record the woman for his “personal gratification.”
Martinez was released today from the Manatee County jail after posting $1500 bond. He is scheduled for an August 2 Circuit Court hearing.