Eight feminine plaintiffs, a few of them minors, are suing their 59-year-old former supervisor alleging he secretly took 1000’s of up-skirt pictures and movies of them whereas they labored at his three suburban Chicago pizzerias. Michael Papandrea allegedly captured the pictures utilizing cameras put in within the tops of his footwear.
Illinois State Police has raided Papandrea’s Frankfort restaurant in March 2020. They arrested and charged him with unauthorized video recording. In that raid, the lawsuit — filed Thursday in Prepare dinner County courtroom — alleges state troopers discovered greater than 24,000 equally inappropriate pictures and movies that seem to span greater than 10 years taken on the Frankfort restaurant
The claims stem from incidents at Parmesans Wooden Stone Pizza in Frankfort. Papandrea additionally owns Parmesans Station in Tinley Park in Will County, where prosectors made comparable allegations again in July. He and spouse Maryann Papandrea additionally personal a 3rd Parmesans restaurant in Matteson.
Whereas supervising staff in Frankfort, the lawsuit alleges that Papandrea stood near them and recorded footage utilizing a digicam mounted to his footwear that he managed with smartphone app. “Clearly they’ve all been horrified to seek out out their privateness was stolen like that,” says legal professional David A. Axelrod, who’s representing the eight plaintiffs.
A pc forensic professional employed by the plaintiffs discovered practically 2,000 movies from the shoe recorder alone, plus one other 14 from a digicam positioned above a restroom bathroom, based on the lawsuit. Different footage was apparently recorded in locations like different eating places, workplaces, and malls. Investigators estimate there could possibly be not less than 500 extra victims.
The incidents occurred from 2012 to 2020, based on the lawsuit. Restaurant staff inadvertently found quite a few up-skirt movies whereas utilizing a pc at one in every of Papandrea’s institutions and promptly reported their discovery to police, Axelrod says.
Papandrea faces comparable allegations in Will County. In July prosectors charged him with 17 counts of videotaping by means of garments; 12 counts are associated to staff beneath 18 years previous. Two months later, one other 4 feminine ex-employees filed suit in Will County circuit court alleging they had been additionally filmed. The case was dismissed with out prejudice in late December, based on courtroom data.
A courtroom look passed off on Sunday in Will County, with the subsequent scheduled for April 22. A Prepare dinner County courtroom case has but to be scheduled. Papandrea’s legal professional, Douglas DeBoer has not but responded to a request for remark.
