SEATTLE — The Lynnwood man, who placed ‘spy’ cameras in the Expedia Group headquarters bathrooms in Seattle back in 2024, was sentenced in King County Superior Court on Friday to four years in prison for secretly recording fellow employees during their most private moments.
Marcelo Vargas-Fernandez was an Expedia Group employee when the incidents occurred and was arrested by Seattle police at his apartment in Lynnwood on Feb. 1, 2024.
According to charging documents, Vargas-Fernandez placed cameras under the sink aimed at the toilet in two all-gender bathrooms at the Expedia office building for months, between Dec. 2023 and Jan. 2024.
Four victim impact statements were read at the sentencing.
“A seemingly reliable colleague turned out to be a voyeuristic predator…what he did was deliberate. Mr. Vargas-Fernandez knowingly filmed unsuspecting victims, leaving us exposed to the risk that our most sensitive personal information could be exploited or even shared online,” a victim advocate read.
Another victim stated that the trauma of learning that she was filmed triggered menopause, having had her last period during the time she was recorded.
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“This is my fault; I should have asked for help,” Vargas-Fernandez said during the sentencing.
“To Expedia, I am sorry because you were there for me I should have asked for help and recognized that I was mentally and emotionally unstable,” Vargas-Fernandez said.
When officers searched Vargas-Fernandez’s apartment after his arrest, they found at least “33 various spy cameras, carrying from full, partial, no concealment,” according to court documents.
Investigators also found at least 22 SD cards and six hard drives with “at least 20 terabytes of storage.”
Court documents state an Expedia vanpool driver first discovered the cameras under two bathroom sinks. The employee reported what they found to security, who confirmed finding the devices.
Investigators also tracked an Amazon order to Vargas-Fernandez that matched the cameras found in the bathrooms.
Vargas-Fernandez told investigators after his arrest that he had previously used spy cameras to surveil his ex-wife in her own home without her knowledge while they were going through a divorce.
Court documents state Vargas-Fernandez also admitted to using a hidden camera in his own apartment to record interactions between him and his daughter “to show he was not doing anything to her because his ex-wife had told him she had safety concerns of him being with their daughter.”
Vargas-Fernandez pleaded guilty to 14 felony crimes in December of last year.
He also pleaded guilty to two gross misdemeanors, counts 15-16, which are misdemeanor violations of a sexual assault protection order. His sentence for these will run concurrently with the 4 years for the felony crimes.
As part of the guilty plea, Vargas-Fernandez agreed to no objection to a lifetime protection order for any victims identified in the counts, or any victims yet to be identified by law enforcement.
He also agreed to forfeit any personal property in the Seattle Police’s possession.
