Security Company Sued Over Delayed Response to Restroom Cameras

In 2023, Expedia employees discovered cameras in the restrooms of the company’s new Seattle campus and reported them to security. According to a class-action lawsuit filed against Securitas, Expedia’s contracted security firm, this occurred two months before Marcelo Vargas-Fernandez was arrested for the crime, The Seattle Times reported.

Attorneys from Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, representing the victims, accused Securitas of mishandling employee reports in December 2023 and failing to remove the cameras until mid-January 2024, when law enforcement was notified.

According to court documents, an Expedia employee first notified security on Dec. 3, 2023, about devices resembling cameras under a restroom sink. Two security officers inspected that restroom and an adjacent one, found cameras in both, and took photos, but did not remove the devices.

Criminal case documents state that Vargas-Fernandez removed the cameras after their discovery and waited a month before reinstalling them.

When the cameras were found again on Jan. 11, 2024, employees notified security, who then contacted Seattle police. Surveillance footage showed Vargas-Fernandez entering the restrooms with items resembling the devices found under the sinks, according to court documents in a civil lawsuit.

Police arrested Vargas-Fernandez in February, obtained a search warrant for his home, and found 33 additional cameras, 22 memory cards, and six hard drives. A subsequent sweep of Expedia’s campus uncovered cameras in five more restrooms and under several workstations.

Expedia temporarily closed the campus shortly after Vargas-Fernandez’s arrest to improve security, GeekWire reported.

On Jan. 9, Vargas-Fernandez was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to voyeurism charges for placing spy cameras in Expedia office bathrooms and his ex-wife’s home.

A trial for the Securitas lawsuit is scheduled for May 2027.