Target employee arrested on video voyeurism, petty theft charges, Collier Sheriff says
A Target employee faces multiple charges in Collier County after authorities say pointed his camera at patrons and stole at least one item.
Court records indicate that Gerame Caraballo, 32, of Naples, faces video voyeurism in two cases and petty theft in a third case, court records indicate.
About 5 p.m. April 17, an initial victim was shopping at Target, 2324 Pine Ridge Road. She was wearing a dress when she said Caraballo holding a cellphone below as she reached for a product.
According to the report, the victim described Caraballo's cellphone as positioned "directly under her dress."
The victim reported she saw the camera application "open and active" on Caraballo's device. She screamed and struck Caraballo, the report says.
She grabbed the cellphone and saw the camera still active, officials said. The victim didn't report hearing the camera snap, nor did she see any photos taken.
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When Target staff, along with Collier County deputies, reviewed the footage, they confirmed Caraballo had positioned his cellphone under the victim's dress.
Deputies arrested Caraballo on a video voyeurism then.
Two days later, as authorities reviewed the original report Wednesday, statement and surveillance footage, they noticed that as Caraballo collected three tablets returned by a customer, he approached the toy department.
Authorities say Caraballo then removed one of them from the packaging and placed it under his T-shirt.
Caraballo then entered the employee locker room and placed the tablet into his backpack.
Before his shift ended, authorities say Caraballo returned to the locker room, removing the tablet from his backpack and placed it under his T-shirt.
When his shift ended about 11:15 p.m., authorities said he made it through all the checkpoints, still carrying the tablet.
The report says that Caraballo, a relatively new employee, has since been terminated.
Also on Wednesday, about 8:30 p.m., authorities met with another victim that reported the initial video voyeurism incident as she shopped with her family.
She said that as she browsed around the store near the children's medicine aisle, she noticed an employee, later identified as Caraballo, standing next to her.
The victim said she noticed Caraballo had a scanner in his left hand and a cellphone in the other.
According to the report, Caraballo acted "like he was scanning products in the aisle."
At one point, the woman reported looking down and seeing Caraballo's cellphone with the camera application visible "in picture mode."
The victim said that as soon as she reacted Caraballo stepped away.
"We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior in our stores and have terminated this team member," Joe Unger, spokesperson for Target, wrote in a statement. "We are working directly with law enforcement on their investigation and will refer additional questions to the police at this time."
Court records indicate that Caraballo is due in court for his arraignments May 10 on the petty theft and May 15 on the two video voyeurism cases.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples Target employee faces charges linked to recording up skirts
