Former Mall Worker Guilty Of Recording Women In Dressing Rooms

YONKERS, NY — A mall worker who secretly recorded women in the changing room at a Westchester County mall, was spared jail time, but will be required to register as a sex offender.

Bronx resident Heriberto Polanco entered a guilty plea to unlawful surveillance after he recorded women in dressing rooms without their knowlege while he worked at Forever 21 at the Cross County Center in Yonkers, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced on Thursday.

“The predatory behavior Heriberto Polanco displayed is incredibly disturbing and unacceptable,” Rocah said in a statement announcing the plea. “Everyone should have the expectation of privacy when they enter a changing room in a store, and Mr. Polanco violated that on numerous occasions.”

Polanco entered his guilty plea on September 14. He admitted to three counts of felony unlawful surveillance. According to his plea agreement, the 27-year-old will receive probationary supervision with sex offender-specific conditions and will be required to register as a sex offender.

On August 28, 2019, a customer at Forever 21 at the Cross County Center in Yonkers was trying on clothes in a dressing room when she noticed a cell phone sitting on top of a sneaker outside her room with the camera lens aimed directly at her. The victim screamed and immediately called Yonkers Police, who identified Polanco, an employee, as a suspect after the victim’s sister reported seeing him running out of the dressing rooms.

Weeks later, on September 10, Polanco admitted to Yonkers Police that he placed his phone under the victim’s dressing room in an attempt to record her changing. He also admitted to recording other female customers in the Forever 21 dressing rooms without their permission.

Polanco is scheduled to be sentenced on December 7.