Former Palm Springs hotel employee pleads guilty to installing hidden camera in bathroom
A former Palm Springs hotel employee who installed a hidden camera found by a guest inside a bathroom pleaded guilty on Thursday to a misdemeanor invasion of privacy charge.
Oscar Patino-Aguilar, 31, is slated to be sentenced next Friday for hiding the camera inside a bathroom light fixture in a room at the Baymont Inn & Suites at 390 S. Indian Canyon Drive.
He also pleaded guilty to bringing drugs into county jail and possession of controlled substances.
A woman staying at the hotel with her daughter, her daughter’s friend and another woman discovered the camera in her room on June 13, 2016.
According to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant, Patino- Aguilar showed the women and two teenage girls to their room. The group then went to the pool, but when one of the women returned to the hotel room to retrieve some water, she noticed a hotel worker wearing an “Oscar” nameplate inside the room with the lights off and curtains drawn.
The woman told police that he was attempting to leave the room as she was returning. She searched through her belongings to see if anything had been taken, then noticed that the light bulb directly above the toilet was positioned at a strange angle. Upon further examination, she found “a small electronic object hugging the light bulb,” aimed toward the toilet, according to the declaration.
Patino-Aguilar was later detained in the hotel lobby and initially denied any knowledge of the camera, but later admitted to a Palm Springs police officer that he placed the camera in the room, according to court papers. Two methamphetamine pipes were also found in his pants pockets.
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