Officials: Man Arrested For Filming Women In Bathroom Stalls At New Jersey Barnes & Noble
CLIFTON, N.J. (CBS/CNN) -- A man was arrested last week for allegedly filming two women in the bathroom stalls at a Barnes & Noble store in Clifton, Passaic County. Juan Mejia, 44, faces two counts of invasion of privacy in the third degree, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.
Mejia was also found to be in possession of suspected child pornography and faces charges of endangering the welfare of children in the second degree and the third degree, prosecutors said.
CNN has been unable to determine whether Mejia has an attorney who would comment on his behalf. He's being held in the Passaic County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
Barnes & Noble called the incident "disturbing" in a statement, adding that employees immediately notified police.
"We thank the police for their quick work, and we will continue to cooperate fully as they investigate," the statement said. "We take security very seriously and are as vigilant as possible in making our stores safe and inviting for customers."
'I'm having trouble forgetting,' victim says
One of the alleged victims, 18-year-old Madison Delaney, told CNN she was shopping at the Barnes & Noble in Clifton with her mother last Wednesday when she stopped to use the restroom.
She heard a noise in the next stall, Delaney said, which she thought was suspicious because she had just looked under the stalls to make sure she was alone.
When she peeked under the neighboring stall, Delaney said she saw a camera that was quickly jerked away.
"I understood that I needed to act really quickly," she said, so she called her mother who showed up with two employees. One of the employees banged on the stall door and demanded the man come out.
"He asked if he had done anything wrong," Delaney said.
Delaney has had trouble sleeping since the incident, she told CNN.
"I don't know if I expected for it to just kind of fade from my mind, but it's not," she said, later adding, "I'm having trouble forgetting every single detail of what happened."
The teen hopes that speaking out will help her cope with what happened and encourage others to be more aware of their surroundings.
"If I couldn't protect other people from this kind of thing I would feel a lot more hopeless," Delaney said.
Her mother, Heather Delaney, posted on Facebook saying she was "so proud of how mature and brave" her daughter had been.
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