Ex-Sunset Ridge School custodian arrested for allegedly secretly filming students, staff in bathrooms

A former custodian is in custody after six years on the run, accused of secretly filming students and staff in a bathroom at a Northfield, Illinois, middle school.

The same man is now at the center of a similar incident at a California restaurant.

Northfield police announced that David Garcia-Espinal, 46, was found and arrested in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 19.

Garcia-Espinal formerly worked at the Sunset Ridge School at 525 Sunset Ridge Rd., where, in 2020, he allegedly hid a video camera in a school bathroom and recorded students and staff without their knowledge or consent. 

He worked at the school as a custodian through the Smith Maintenance Company between 2015 and 2020. In 2016, he took on a second job at the school as a cook through OrganicLife.

In a previous complaint against the companies, it was noted that Garcia-Espinal has a criminal background and a long pattern of inappropriate behavior. The companies were accused of failing to conduct adequate background checks before hiring him. 

Sunset Ridge School District 29 superintendent Edward Strange, at the time, said both vendors conducted criminal background checks on Garcia-Espinal and didn't find anything. School officials also said there were no prior complaints about Garcia-Espinal. The district said it never ran an independent background check, but instead, it relied on the third-party vendor to do so.

An investigation by CBS News Chicago found that in 2010, Garcia-Espinal was caught on two separate occasions taking pictures of women while they were urinating in a movie theater restroom at the Northbrook Mall. He was banned from the mall. 

Then, in 2012, he admitted to going to the Regal Theater in Glenview and entering a woman's bathroom to masturbate. He also admitted to doing the same thing at the Northbrook theater. He was never charged ineither incident.

Garcia-Espinal also pleaded guilty to identity fraud in 2012 and was sentenced to probation. He was fined for violating his probation in 2013.  

Following the secret recording at Sunset Ridge School, police said Garcia-Espinal fled the United States before he was arrested.

"I'm very happy that he was apprehended. I hope he's prosecuted fully," said attorney Kevin Golden.

Golden represented and settled a civil lawsuit against the two contractors that employed Garcia-Espinal on behalf of two alleged victims, both employees at the school. 

"I did get a call from one of the victims, and the emotions are back. The impact of what occurred, reliving this, and the nervousness of being back in the criminal system," he said.

CBS News Chicago was contacted by an L.A. restaurant owner who said Garcia-Espinal was working for him under an alias last year, when a customer found a camera recording inside the restaurant bathroom. He allegedly ran away as police were called and evaded police until last week.

"I guarantee you, unfortunately, that he's been doing it before he got caught in California, and he just continued to do it," Golden said.

Golden said he believes prosecutors will take this much more seriously than they have in the past. He said in cases similar to this, some victims chose not cooperate out of shame or felt investigators didn't take them seriously as victims.

"Just because it's not a broken bone or a physical injury, it's an emotional injury," he said. "So, that's step number one, is just to get people to say, hey, listen, this isn't your fault, this, you know, you are a victim, and realizing that."

It's unclear if Garcia-Espinal will face charges in connection with the accusations made by the L.A. restaurant owner. His next court date in L.A. is scheduled for the end of March.

He is awaiting extradition to Illinois and formal charges on multiple counts of unauthorized videotaping. 

CBS News Chicago reached out to Sunset Ridge School District 29 for comment and has yet to hear back.