Charity employee accused of recording under woman's dress at IKEA

SUNRISE, Fla. – A worker with a charity in Pompano Beach was arrested Wednesday after he used his cellphone to record a video under a woman's dress for his "sexual arousal," police said.

Maria Martinez told police officers she was shopping at IKEA in Sunrise on July 8 when she saw Jose Carlos Barrios filming about 12 inches away from a woman on an escalator. 

Martinez told officers she instinctively started shouting and chased after the 59-year-old man.

Other shoppers rushed behind Barrios and detained him until Sunrise Police Department officers arrived. But when the victim chose not to file charges, the officers were forced to let him go. 

According to the police report, the victim later told police officers that she was "confused and frazzled" and had changed her mind. Detectives had surveillance video of the incident and found 57 other videos on Barrios' cellphone that could be linked to video voyeurism.

Barrios, who worked at the Cross Catholic Outreach, turned himself in. When he walked out of the Broward County jail Thursday night in Fort Lauderdale, Barrios refused to answer questions and took off running.

Cross Catholic Outreach President James Cavnar said in a statement Friday that Barrios resigned on Thursday.

"Although the incident occurred during this staff member's personal time and transpired outside of the office setting, we share the public's concern for the victims of the crime and we will cooperate fully within any police investigations that will follow," the statement read. 

The Archdiocese of Miami's spokesperson Mary Ross Agosta released a statement Aug. 10 saying the charity has no connection to the Catholic Church and Barrios is not an employee of the Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Charities.