By Jacob Mathias

A Stevens Point man could see up to a year in jail after allegedly entering a public women’s locker room and watching a woman shower.

Fernando Garcia Flores, 24, is charged with invasion of privacy, misdemeanor which carries a maximum sentence of up to a $10,000 fine, or nine months imprisonment or both if convicted. He is also charged with disorderly conduct for which up to a $1,000 fine, or 90 days imprisonment or both can be levied against the defendant.

Flores made his initial appearance in Portage County Circuit Court on May 16.

According to the criminal complaint, on July 7, 2015, two Stevens Point police officers were dispatched to the Sentry Insurance headquarters on Northpoint Drive in response to reports of a man entering the women’s locker room at the building’s fitness center. Police spoke with security officers who reported a woman she saw a “Hispanic man in a yellow shirt” looking at her through a gap in the shower curtain while she showered.

Police located the Flores, who was still in the fitness center. Flores said he worked on the SentryWorld Golf Course and had not — accidentally nor otherwise — been in the women’s locker room. The defendant had no explanation for how the victim would have been able to provide a description of him if he had not been in the locker room.

When police spoke with the victim she said she’d been in the shower washing her hair when opened her eyes and saw Flores looking through the gap in the curtain, when she screamed for him to get out.

The woman was escorted from the gym by other employees so she wouldn’t have to encounter Flores.

When police spoke with other staff at the gym, they learned a female employee of the gym had also filed a complaint against Flores earlier that day after he approached her several times, asked if she had seen his kissing keys, then told her she was beautiful before leaving the area.

Later on, the victim was presented with a photo lineup and identified Flores as the man who had watched her in the shower.

Other employees of the fitness center told police Flores had allegedly been seen standing in the rear entrance of the men’s locker room, which faces an entrance to the women’s locker room, while wearing only his underwear. Any woman who entered the locker room would have been forced to see Flores in his underwear.

Flores is free on a $2,000 signature bond. He returns to court on June 27 at 9:30 AM for a pre-trial conference.