A Long Island exterminator has been arrested, accused of trying to record a 19-year-old woman as she changed during a house call on Thursday.
Police said the young woman hired Joroba Pest Control to exterminate her Hempstead apartment. She was home Thursday afternoon when the technician arrived to complete the job.
Walter Rivas, 45, was spraying the apartment when some of the chemicals "got on the victim," according to police.
He then encouraged the woman to change her clothes to avoid any potential contamination, police said. But when the woman started changing, she told police she noticed a phone recording her through a bucket that had been placed on her bed.
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"I asked him why you recording me, then he tried to grab his phone," the woman told News 4 the next day.
Police said she immediately called 911. Officers conducted their investigation and promptly Rivas on a charge of unlawful surveillance.
After his arrest, court documents indicate Rivas told police, "I made a mistake." He did not speak to reporters after appearing in court for an arraignment on Friday.
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Rivas, who has no prior criminal record, was ordered to stay away from his alleged victim.
The pest control company told News 4 that Rivas "is definitely fired."
Police want to speak to other potential victims, who are asked to call 516-573-6353 or Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.
