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U.S. job seekers filmed naked
(submitted by gekkogecko)
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 82 women were
secretly videotaped naked or partly undressed while
applying for jobs at a Los Angeles-area Hooters
restaurant and changing into the chain's distinctive
uniform, police say.
Detectives in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina
were interviewing the women, who range in age from 17
to 25, after seizing 180 video files from the personal
computer of former Hooters manager Juan Aponte, police
spokesman Rudy Lopez said on Thursday.
"The videos were of the women changing into and out of
the Hooters uniform," Lopez said, and were taken while
they applied for a job at the restaurant, which is
scheduled to open in April, at a trailer on the
construction site.
At the interview they were told to change into the
uniform of bright orange shorts and a white tank-top
bearing the Hooters logo and were surreptitiously
videotaped, he said.
"We're taking photographs of the girls in the
videotapes and comparing them with the applications
and that's who we're trying to contact," Lopez said,
adding that while more than 1,200 women had applied it
appeared that not all were taped.
"They are appalled," Lopez said of the victims. "They
are angry, upset, emotional and had absolutely no
knowledge this had taken place."
Lopez said Aponte, 32, had not been arrested but that
detectives hoped to present a case to prosecutors for
possible charges within days. He said Hooters
officials had been "very, very cooperative" in the
investigation.
Aponte's lawyer, Brian Michaels, declined to comment
on the details of the case, but said, "We've been
cooperative with the police and we're going to remain
cooperative to the extent that it helps my client and
clears this matter."
Mike McNeil, a spokesman for Hooters, said the
Atlanta-based restaurant chain was disturbed by the
case.
"The restaurant chain is in no way implicated in
this," McNeil said. "In our 21-year history we've
never seen anything like this before and we're very
concerned about it. We're doing everything we can to
cooperate."
McNeil said Hooters applicants were not expected to
model uniforms during job interviews, adding: "This
manager was in clear violation of our written policies
and then went beyond that and appears to have broken
the law."
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