Janitor charged with placing camera in women's bathroom at Ossining village hall

OSSINING, Westchester (WABC) -- A disturbing discovering inside a women's bathroom at Ossining Village Hall recently led police to a familiar face.

"It's just disgusting, I'm just so tired of hearing about stuff like that," a resident said.

On Tuesday, a village employee found a secret camera underneath a sink in a single stall bathroom aimed at a mirror to reflect a wider view of the small space.

Police were called and traced the camera to 48-year-old Lider Velez, a village janitor who has been on the job 14 years.

"You don't know what else he's been doing, so they got to check out his house, see what he's got going on, you might find out some things about him, sad, really sad," said Kevin Shaver, a resident.

Investigators say Velez was allegedly trying to tape a specific woman who also works as a village employee.

The bathroom was primarily used by village employees, and at this point they have no indication any members of the public were recoded.

Velez was arraigned Wednesday night on six counts of unlawful surveillance.

"Anybody that's been placed in a situation where their privacy or safety and security have been compromised is understandably upset," said Chief Kevin Sylvester, Ossining Police. "We're doing everything we can to offer assistance to them, offer counseling."

"That's scary, it's like he was stalking her, that's what it seems like to me," said Alexis Muse, a resident. "It's still disgusting and it's very scary and to know that it happened here of all places, like we're a close knit village, it's disgusting."

Shocked and appalled, people who live and work in the village were unnerved to by the allegations.

"I wonder what else he's not been caught doing so far," a resident said. "That's pretty sick, that's just really sad."

"I think that he should go to jail, that's basically to me like being a sexual offender because you're watching people, you can do that to anybody, that's disgusting," another resident said.

Velez was orders to remain behind bars on $7,500 bail/bond.