Boca Raton Police have charged a city parks employee with voyeurism after learning that he had video recorded a woman and her 10-year-old daughter as they changed clothing in the bathroom at Red Reef Park.
A day after his Aug. 21 arrest, Boca Raton fired 27-year-old Douglas Hughes. Hughes had worked since March 9, 2009, in the city’s parks department, first as a part-time employee, and then as a full-time groundskeeper since November 2011. He was not assigned to Red Reef Park, and he was not working when the incident happened, said Mark Buckingham, director of human resources.
Officers met with the victim and her daughter Aug. 18. As they were changing in the women’s bathroom, her daughter saw a hand holding a white iPhone between the window slats, facing into the bathroom.
The mother ran outside and saw a red Toyota back out of a nearby parking lot and drive away. She gave the tag number to officers.
Hughes admitted recording the woman and her child, police said. He also said that he secretly recorded people on numerous occasions in Red Reef Park and Patch Reef Park, according to a police report.
Hughes’ most recent assignment was as part of a ball field maintenance crew. But when he was a groundskeeper, he would have traveled in a golf cart, primarily at Sugar Sand Park and Patch Reef Park, Buckingham said.
City officials have no knowledge of incidents happening while Hughes was working, but the police still are investigating. Anyone with information about the current case or other incidents is asked to call Detective Ron Mello at (561) 620-6186.
— Angie Francalancia
Comments