The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a report that an employee at a popular Del Ray bistro recorded customers using the bathroom on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Karim Mashmour, the owner of Gustave Boulangerie & Brasserie (2213 Mount Vernon Avenue), states that the employee has been suspended pending the outcome of the APD’s investigation, while police indicate that it is an ongoing investigation and that no charges have been filed.
“Our customers’ safety is the most important thing,” Mashmour said. “We take this very seriously, and it happened on one of our busiest days. We had no idea what was happening. We are fully cooperating to get to the bottom of this.”
Police were called at around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 by a customer who reported that she and her daughter used an employee restroom at the restaurant, since the public restroom was occupied, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit. The mother told police that she saw the cabinet doors of the bathroom vanity cracked open, and that she opened the vanity to find a phone propped up on a roll of toilet paper.
“She grabbed the camera and saw that it was recording,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “It had been recording for approximately 30 minutes. She watched the video from the beginning and saw the person who set up the phone. She said they put the phone in the cabinet and set it up to record through the crack in-between the vanity doors.”
The victim told police that she took the phone with her, and told her husband, who had used the bathroom before his wife and daughter, according to the search warrant affidavit. She also told police that the suspect in the video wore a uniform for the restaurant.
The husband told police that the employee was standing behind him in the bathroom line and asked whether he could use the bathroom before him, and that he refused.
“The subject said he really needed to use the restroom and that he worked there,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
The employee was briefly detained by police and admitted to placing the phone in the bathroom for the “purposes of recording himself performing sexual acts to later send to his girlfriend who resides in the Philippines,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
Taking nude photos or video of a non-consenting person in Virginia is a Class 1 misdemeanor, unless it is of a minor, then it is a Class 6 felony.
On Oct. 1, Mashmour sent ALXnow the following message:
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who came today and showed their support for our business. In this difficult time, your kindness reminds us that we are not alone. From the very first day, Del Ray has welcomed us as part of the community, which makes this situation all the more heartbreaking.
We want to assure our community that we are fully cooperating with the Alexandria Police Department. In addition, we have already taken stronger measures, including a stricter hiring process, to ensure that this will never happen again.
Transparency and trust are essential to us. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out at [email protected] or stop by to speak with us in person at Gustave.
Thank you once again for standing with us. Your support means more than words can express.
