Repairman caught on tape rummaging through little girls' underwear

The police are investigating a Los Angeles repairman who was caught on a home security camera rummaging through the clothing hampers of young girls and apparently fondling their underwear. (Photo: ABC 7)
The police are investigating a Los Angeles repairman who was caught on a home security camera rummaging through the clothing hampers of young girls and apparently fondling their underwear. (Photo: ABC 7)

A father of two is sickened after home security footage captured a repairman digging into his young daughters’ clothes hampers, and apparently fondling and smelling a pair of underwear.

On Wednesday, Jason Cooper of Playa Vista, Calif., hired a local repairman (whose name and company cannot be disclosed for legal reasons) to touch up floor scratches in a home he recently moved into with his wife and two daughters, ages 3 and 5.

“My wife thought he was a little creepy and he wouldn’t look her in the eye, but it was nothing too out of the ordinary,” Cooper tells Yahoo Lifestyle. The man worked in the hallway and the bedrooms of Cooper, his wife, and their daughters for two hours, while the family was present but in other areas of the home.

Later that day, on a whim, Cooper checked his Nest Cam — a home security camera visibly mounted on the crib of one of his daughters — and discovered the disturbing footage. According to local news station ABC 7, it shows the man walking over to the children’s hampers repeatedly to rummage through the contents, selecting a pair of underwear, and bringing the item to his face, inhaling several times.

Jason Cooper was shocked to learn that a home repairman had violated his daughters’ privacy by apparently taking a pair of underwear. (Photo: ABC 7)
Jason Cooper was shocked to learn that a home repairman had violated his daughters’ privacy by apparently taking a pair of underwear. (Photo: ABC 7)

“When the video showed him over by the hamper, I thought to myself, ‘Wait, that’s not where the floor damage is,'” Cooper tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

The father called the repairman, fuming. “I said, ‘How could you not see the security camera? I want you to know that everything you did was caught on video. I also told him he was a vile, disgusting person.'”

Cooper says the man gasped sharply upon hearing that he had been caught. “That, to me, was telling,” says Cooper. “I said I was reporting him to the police to make sure he couldn’t do this again. Then I hung up.”

A representative of the Los Angeles Police Department tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the man has not been arrested and the incident is being investigated as a petty theft, a misdemeanor. Yahoo Lifestyle is unable to disclose the man’s identity without interviewing him and the man did not respond Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment.

“This guy invaded the privacy of my daughters and our family,” Cooper tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I’ll pursue this until he’s caught.”

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