A Mahanoy City man was caught on camera using the camera on his cellular phone to secretly record up a woman’s dress inside the Wilkes-Barre Township Walmart Supercenter earlier this year, according to court records.
Instead of a Luzerne County jury seeing the secret recording, John Edwin Chimbay Lucero, 24, opted to plead guilty to charges of invasion of privacy and harassment before Judge David W. Lupas on Tuesday.
Lucero was scheduled for trial this week.
Prosecutors withdrew two other counts of invasion of privacy and one count each of criminal attempt and disorderly conduct against Lucero.
Lupas said he will sentence Lucero on Jan. 20. Lucero could be required to register his address as a sex offender for 15 years under the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Wilkes-Barre Township police charged Lucero with taking illicit video of a woman, who notified store staff on May 13.
When the woman described the man, surveillance camera operators spotted Lucero still inside the store.
Lucero was followed by the store’s surveillance cameras walking from the electronics department and randomly picked up a pair shots without looking at the price tag and size, court records say.
Lucero was observed via surveillance cameras waiting outside a fitting room where, court records say, he removed his cellular phone from his pocket and opened up three videos looking up the woman’s dress.
Police in court records say earlier footage showed Lucero in the electronics department in direct proximity of the woman where he knelt in such a manner that would make recording up her dress possible.
Lucero remains free on $25,000 unsecured bail.
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