CHULA VISTA, Calif.—A janitor who set up a hidden camera inside a bathroom at the Imperial Beach school where he worked was sentenced May 5 to one year in county jail and three years of probation.
Freddy Mogollan, 39, must also register as a sex offender for filming victims inside a women’s restroom at Bayside STEAM Academy. A staff member first discovered a cell phone hidden inside a bathroom stall on Oct. 21, 2021.
Mogollan is also facing a lawsuit filed earlier this year in San Diego Superior Court. The complaint initially listed seven women as plaintiffs, but was later amended to add five others and also names the South Bay Union School District as a defendant.
About a week after the lawsuit was filed, Mogollan pleaded guilty to one felony count of possessing matter depicting a person under 18 in sexual conduct and four misdemeanor counts of invading the privacy of another with a concealed camera for the purpose of sexual gratification.
Prosecutors say the count associated with a minor victim does not involve a student at the school.
At his sentencing hearing on Friday, Mogollan apologized to the victims in attendance.
“From the bottom of my heart, I wish to ask for forgiveness from each one of you for everything I’ve caused and for having harmed you so bad,” he said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter.
In English, he added, “I ask you to forgive me for what I did to you, because I [will] never forgive myself for what I’ve done to you.”
One of the victims told Mogollan in court that she now checks the vents every day while using that bathroom, and does the same inside other restrooms in public.
“It’s really sad that you have this horrific obsession and you used us as your victims. You hurt us deeply,” she told Mogollan.
Another woman who worked as a teacher at Bayside STEAM Academy said she felt “violated and humiliated beyond words” and she “now must live with the fact that we will never know how long this has been going on or who else really has those videos.”
Later in the hearing, Mogollan told the women none of the videos that were recorded were shared on the internet or seen by anyone else.
“I’m very sorry and I know that it’s hard for you to believe me,” he said.
