CBS13 Investigation: State Parks Department Keeping Employee's Secret Recordings Under Wraps

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The California Department of Parks and Rec is coming under fire, again, this time for one of its employees secretly recording people in public restrooms and hotel rooms.

This crime took place more than a year ago. What's disturbing is the victims—dozens of them, of all ages—have no idea they were secretly recorded by the employee. And who has that illegal video now?

"There are people who have been victimized and don't know it," said employment attorney Jeffrey Fulton.

Heinous allegations that a state parks employee not only violated people's privacy, and that public's trust.

Jesse Nungaray pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges. The three remaining charges, including a felony, were dropped. That means he doesn't have to register as a sex offender.

He spent only 60 days behind bars.

Nungaray's supervisors today are still trying to keep it a secret.

Fulton represents a state whistleblower who informed CBS13 about state employee Nungaray.

He secretly recorded dozens of men, women and children in the restrooms at the Oceano Campground on Pismo State Beach.

"Especially dealing with children, that's a real concern."

Twenty-five victims have been confirmed.

CBS13 learned Nungaray was part of a parks construction crew traveling the state to modify restrooms.

When he stayed at the Shore Cliff Lodge in Pismo Beach, a maid cleaning his room noticed an outlet wasn't working.

"This maid called maintenance and maintenance found a camera from this particular room pointed into the next room, bed-level," Fulton said.

The hotel manager evicted Nungaray and notified his immediate supervisor, but Nungaray wasn't arrested. He was allowed to keep working in state parks for weeks.

"This person was allowed to continue working on state park property having access to public facilities, particularly restrooms, for 27 days."

That's when parks upper management got a letter, obtained by CBS13. A hotel executive detailed the disturbing discovery in Nungaray's room.

"We found most outlets had been tampered with. The guts to the outlet could be seen in his open suitcase ... We found small cameras, scan disks etc."

State Parks Internal Affairs and police investigated and Nungaray was arrested and placed on administrative leave.

But what about those dozens of compromising videos out there? What do they show, and do those people know they were secretly recorded?

"They have a right to know if their children's images, in compromising or private situations, are being shared or generated throughout the world possibly," Fulton said.

It's been more than a year, and to this day, the parks department has never informed the public.

We called and emailed repeatedly asking for an interview. They sent CBS13 a statement saying, "When we became aware of Mr. Nungaray's actions in early 2012, the Department acted swiftly ... We are confident the Department did everything in our power to address the situation."

That statement didn't begin to answer our questions.

We called the office of State Parks Director Maj. Gen. Anthony L. Jackson. He was appointed last year after all of this went down.

I was told he would call me back, but he didn't.

So we went to the state parks' headquarters and tried again.

Spokeswoman Vicky Waters called me back, saying there's no way they were doing an interview. They claimed it was a personnel issue.