DA: Restaurant worker hid phone in trash to record women

Here's the Rap Sheet for Feb. 10, 2016:

UPSKIRT VIDEO SUSPECT CHARGED: A former Redwood City restaurant employee has been charged with hiding his cell phone in a restroom trash can to secretly record women.

Marcos Rene Boch, 34, of Redwood City was charged by San Mateo County prosecutors with using a recording device to secretly record someone in full or partial undress, a misdemeanor.

The investigation began on Dec. 18 when a woman using a unisex bathroom at Milagros Restaurant noticed a cell phone in the waste basket, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

The cell phone was on and recording, authorities said.

The woman looked through the phone and discovered to her horror that it had recorded her "in a state of undress," Wagstaffe said. She also said video showing Boch putting the phone in the trash basket, authorities said.

The woman notified the manager, who called Boch into his office, authorities said.

Boch "admitted his conduct," and a police search of the phone "revealed other videos of unidentified women in the bathroom," Wagstaffe said. There was also videos of "dozens" of women in which the phone had secretly been placed underneath their skirts, authorities said.

Boch remains out of custody pending his next court date Feb. 17.


EX-LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE WORKER GUILTY: A former employee at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $389,000, authorities said today.

DeSondra Michell Ward, 44, formerly of Piniole, admitted in U.S. District Court in Oakland on Tuesday to theft and fraud for stealing from the science center from 2008 to 2014.

Ward worked first as an administrative assistant with the Full Option Science System  program and later as a financial analyst with financial oversight over the same program.

Ward admitted to using the university’s travel systems to arrange personal air travel for herself, her family, and her friends.  She also used her university-issued procurement card for personal transactions and processed vouchers to generate payments to herself, her family, and her friends.

PRISON IN TAINTED MEAT CASE: The former president and general manager of a shuttered Petaluma slaughterhouse linked to a massive beef recall was sentenced today to a year and a day in federal prison for selling dairy cows with eye cancer.

Jesse Amaral Jr., 78, must surrender March 25 to begin serving his sentence of 366 days behind bars, U.S. District Charles Breyer said at a sentencing hearing in San Francisco. The extra day makes Amaral eligible to have his prison term reduced for good behavior.

Amaral and three other managers at Rancho Feeding Corp. were implicated in a scheme in which cows had their heads chopped off so that inspectors couldn't detect the disease.

The company stopped operating in 2014 after a recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef — a year’s worth of meat that had been processed from diseased and unhealthy animals without a full federal inspection, authorities said.

Amaral pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to distribute adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat. Three other managers will be sentenced later this year.
From 2012 to 2014, Amaral directed employees to process cattle that had already been condemned by a U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian, authorities said. Cabrera then allegedly told "kill floor" employees to carve the “USDA Condemned” stamps out of the carcasses.

Amaral also directed other managers to circumvent inspection procedures for certain cows with signs of epithelioma, also known as "cancer eye," authorities said.

BURGLARY SUSPECT SOUGHT: Santa Clara police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was caught on video using credit cards stolen during an auto burglary.

The incident happened Jan. 18 between 9:35 a.m. and 10:20 a.m., when the victim's car was broken into.

The man later made fraudulent purchases at several locations with the victim's credit cards, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Santa Clara police Detective Luke Erickson at (408) 615-4829.

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