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WRIGHT TWP. — A Hazleton man is facing a slew of charges after he was discovered in the ceiling of a township restaurant’s women’s bathroom, according to police.
Police are searching for Juan Bermudes Prieto, of Hazleton, after he fled Luigi’s Pizzeria on South Mountain Boulevard when he was allegedly observed by customers hiding in the ceiling of the restroom.
Prieto was an employee of the pizzeria, but has not returned to the business since the incident.
According to a criminal complaint:
Officers responded to Luigi’s for a report of a male crawling in the ceiling staring at customer’s in the women’s restroom. Officers met with an unidentified woman and her husband. The woman told police she was in the bathroom and saw a ceiling block move.
A female employee, the complainant’s husband and father ran into the room. The husband, standing on a toilet, used his cellphone as a flashlight to look in above the ceiling tiles. He saw a white male with a mustache and receding hairline who was mumbling Spanish.
He attempted to grab the male, but the suspect crawled toward the men’s bathroom.
The husband ran into the men’s bathroom to catch the man, but the suspect went out a window.
The suspect dropped a burgundy baseball hat with a Virginia Tech insignia and a blue stocking hat with red and white stripes as he ran away.
Officers than searched the immediate area outside the building and adjacent wooded area. Pennsylvania Game Commission Officer David Allen and K-9, Skye, were requested to track the suspect. Skye took officers to state Route 309 in the area of Burick’s Service Station.
Pennsylvania State Police were called to process the scene.
Investigations were able to interview employees of Luigi’s who identified the suspect as Prieto. Employees told police Prieto wore the stocking hat to work. They were also able to identify Prieto’s vehicle, a Mazda Tribute SW with chrome wheels, which was in the parking lot of Luigi’s.
Videos from a Nokia cellphone found at the scene were preserved at evidence. A total of 48 videos of female children under the age of 13 and female adults were found on the phone. During a check of Prieto’s public Facebook, investigators found him wearing the burgundy baseball hat similar to the one found at the scene.
Prieto is facing three felony counts each of taking photographs of children preforming sexual acts and child pornography as well as 16 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.