Hospital video voyeurism suspect placed hidden cameras at 3 facilities, 1M images found

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The suspect in the video voyeurism investigation at St. Mary's Medical Center planted hidden cameras at three medical facilities and had more than one million images on his phone.

Rudelmiro Santizo Perez, 41, of Riviera Beach, is in custody in Houston. Police said Homeland Security agents arrested him Monday as he tried to flee the country to Guatemala.

West Palm Beach Police launched the investigation after finding a small hidden camera under a sink in an employee bathroom at St. Mary's on Oct. 3.

“It was a pinhole, just enough for the camera lens and it was taped up with medical tape under the sink,” West Palm Beach Police Detective Molly Anderson said.

West Palm police released images from the camera last week. The pictures showed two or three wash rooms not matching any at St. Mary’s.

After CBS12 News aired the images, police were able to identify the other restrooms as being at Lynn Cancer Institute locations: one in Boca Raton, the other west of Delray Beach.

“He is the only employee that works at all three of those facilities," Anderson said. "He is the only employee with access to... (all three of) those bathrooms, one of them being locked for only employees use.”

Anderson said there were eight known victims at St. Mary's and she’s still trying to identify the ninth.

The sheriff’s office said it had found no victims at the West Delray location.

But Boca Raton police said there are three in their city, and although Santizo-Perez is also their suspect, they have not yet charged him.

Anderson said the camera was placed in Boca Raton on Sept. 30.

“It was just one camera, and he would take it from his shift, from what I’m assuming, and place it during his shifts,” she said. “His phone had a search warrant for it, and over a million images are coming back from his phone," Anderson explained. "And the bathrooms are confirmed in his phone. I just feel bad as far as the victims, even regular people now watching this, have to be careful of going to the bathroom. It’s a vulnerable thing, and we’re all just going to be looking in every crease and crevice for a camera.”

Police said Perez has a family in the area. He worked in the CT scan unit at St. Mary's and performed PET Scans at the Lynn Cancer facilities west of Delray Beach and in Boca Raton.

Lynn Cancer Institute is part of Boca Raton Regional Hospital, which late Tuesday issued a statement saying, "The safety and privacy of our patients and employees is our priority... We are terminating the individual."

Police said Santizo-Perez would be returned from Texas, to Palm Beach County, to face charges, but did not know when.