BOCA RATON, Fla. – Police are searching for a man who they said videotaped up women's skirts at the Town Center at Boca Raton.
According to a news release, one victim notified mall security Aug. 3 that a man was standing behind her in the food court and recorded her from a camera strapped to his foot.
The victim told security that her friend noticed that the man positioned his foot so the camera was able to record up the victim's skirt.
"It was a box. It was made with an on/off switch with an SD card and a pinhole on the top of it," Boca Raton police spokesman Mark Economou said.
Mall security detained the suspect, identified as Leonardo Gambasica, 47, of Coral Springs, until Boca Raton police officers arrived.
Authorities said Gambasica gave officers permission to pat him down and search his phone, but would not let them search his backpack.
Police said his backpack was seized and officers applied for a search warrant.
While searching the backpack at a later time, officers found an electronic device with a small camera and SD card. Gambasica had already been released.
"We can't look at it without consent to search. So we seized it and obtained a search warrant from a judge a couple days later, and we were able to look inside the bag. There was a camera in a box with a pinhole," Economou said.
Police said a review of the SD card not only showed video of the victim who reported the crime, but also video of victims in other stores the same day, including PacSun, Victoria's Secret, PINK, Boston Market, Apple and Forever 21.
There was also video taken on the same day from an unknown Publix supermarket, authorities said.
Those victims have yet to be identified.
"The safety and comfort of our shoppers is always our top priority, and we take this very seriously," said Sal Saldana, the mall's general manager. "We are working closely with the Boca Raton Police Department, who is actively investigating this incident."
Anyone with information about Gambasica's whereabouts is asked to call Detective John Turek at 561-620-6148.
"There's a good chance that if this individual did this once, he's done it before," Economou said. "We just happened to catch him that day and the videos from that day."