Police: Smoke Shop owner records woman using restroom and gropes friend
TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas - A man hid his cellphone to videotape a woman using the bathroom in his store and groped another woman because he said she was “very tempting,” according to court documents.
Around 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept.23, two women went into a store called the Smoke Shop located at 2801 Guadalupe Street to browse.
Travis County Sheriff’s Office said the store owner, 22-year-old Manesh Vislavath, gave permission for one of the girls to use the bathroom.
Vislavath asked both of them to meet him in the back of the store and that’s when Vislavath started recording on his iPhone. Footage on the phone shows Visalavath setting up the camera at an angle on the bathroom counter where it could capture a shot of the toilet in the restroom police said.
One of the victims told police she found the cellphone after she was done using the bathroom and she was washing her hands. She told police she confronted Visalavath and asked him to delete the footage.
While she was using the restroom, her friend was waiting in the hallway with Vislavath when she said he forced himself onto her and groped her breast.
After pushing off Vislavath and telling him to “stop” she told police Vislavath said she was “very tempting,” as he touched his own genitals. She said she could see that Vislavath was excited.
Police said they questioned Vislavath and asked for consent to check his iPhone. At first Vislavath denied that he owned the phone and said it belonged to his friends.
However, he later pulled the phone out of his pocket and confessed to police that it was indeed his phone.
Police said they were given consent by Vislavath to check the phone; he willingly showed police the video of the girl using the restroom.