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Police Ask Northfield Parents To Examine School Bathroom Camera Images; Suspect Had Past Charges Of Masturbating In Public Restroom

NORTHFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in Northfield were asking parents to come to the station Wednesday, so they could identify screen grabs of children found on video recordings taken in an elementary school bathroom.

Meanwhile, the school district revealed Wednesday David Garcia-Espinal, the man for whom a warrant has been issued on charges he placed the camera, was also once accused of masturbating in a public women's restroom.

He was also charged with a felony for possessing two false Social Security numbers.

Sunset Ridge District 29 Supt. Edward Stange announced Wednesday that Garcia-Espinal faced a felony charge of identity fraud in 2012 for the false Social Security numbers.

Garcia-Espinal was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for the masturbation. A Glenview police report said he entered the women's restroom at the Regal Cinema movie theater, at 1850 Tower Dr. in Glenview and masturbated in a toilet stall while women were nearby.

It was not clear whether he was convicted on that charge.

Garcia-Espinal is identified only as David Garcia on the police report about the masturbation incident, but Sunset Ridge School confirmed it is the same person.

Court records also indicated that Garcia-Espinal pleaded guilty to identity fraud in 2012 and was sentenced to probation, and was fined for violating his probation in 2013. The records did not specify further details about the case.

But Garcia-Espinal still passed background checks conducted by school vendors, according to the district.

"The District is reviewing why this information was not contained in the background checks," Stange wrote.

A week ago Tuesday, staff at the Sunset Ridge School in Northfield found a camera in the staff bathroom. The bathroom was also sometimes used by students, the school district said.

Police tried to find Garcia-Espinal, 40, that day once they checked out the phone – but he had already disappeared.

A cellphone camera was found "hidden and recording from a trash can" in a staff-designated bathroom around 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, according to a letter to parents.

The cellphone was taped to the inside of the classroom and appeared to be recording video through a small hole, Stange wrote.

Garcia-Espinal had been at Sunset Ridge since 2015, holding two jobs at the school since 2016 through two different companies.

He was a cook through OrganicLife, and a custodian through Smith Maintenance Company in the evenings, the school district said in the Q&A communication to parents.

CBS 2 has reached out to both OrganicLife and Smith Maintenance Company about how the conviction was missed. Neither had gotten back to us as of 4 p.m.

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