Victim describes encounter with peeping Tom who faces several invasion of privacy charges.
The Retro Fitness of Piscataway, on Kingsbridge Road. One man says he knows what it's like to have his intimate parts exposed to a peeping Tom stranger.
And though the incident has caused him anguish, he says he is even more concerned about 14 other people who were allegedly victimized by the same culprit, but don't even know it.
The man charged with spying on several men in a gym locker room, Javier Tavira-Flores, 25, of Bound Brook, faces multiple charges of invasion of privacy. Tavira-Flores appeared at a pretrial intervention hearing last month -- a motion that was ultimately denied.
"They are innocent victims; you don't get more of an innocent victim than a person going into a bathroom and getting stalked and preyed upon," said the man who was allegedly filmed, who spoke to NJ Advance Media recently on the condition of anonymity.
"We do not know if he sent (the photos) to his friends" or uploaded them to the Internet, said the victim, whose attorney, Francine Gargano, was present during the interview.
The alleged victim said in September 2014, he caught the man eventually arrested by police filming him while he was going to the bathroom in the Retro Fitness of Piscataway. Since then, he has difficulty being in public spaces. Every time he goes to the bathroom, he checks his surroundings first, he said. If there's a window, he looks out first to ensure no one is peering in.
"I try not to go into public bathrooms," he said. "Every time a phone is pointed at me I feel like I am being watched. A girl had her phone pointed at me at a diner, and I couldn't even enjoy my meal."
In the bathroom of the Retro Fitness, the victim said he noticed something in his peripheral vision.
He said he turned around, but that the person he thought he saw peeking over the partition of the stall was no longer there.
For a moment, he thought he might have been seeing things.
He said he jumped up and looked over and saw a man crouching on top of the toilet.
He was shocked, he said.
"My adrenaline is pumping, I instantly felt my heart racing; I started sweating, I am startled, it was so fast, (I'm thinking) my mind is playing tricks on me," he said. "He was crouched on the toilet (and said) 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm deleting it.' I kicked the door in, and he immediately said 'Here, here' and gave me the phone."
The victim, who had confiscated the phone, rushed to the front desk and asked the staff to call the police, he said. He said the peeping Tom rushed to his car and peeled out.
According to a recording of last month's PTI hearing, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Sermon said that it is likely Tavira-Flores' 14 unidentified victims taped without their knowledge will remain unaware they were filmed.
Authorities have identified only three of the 17 victims allegedly filmed by Tavira-Flores, and it remains unclear what authorities plan to do about the remaining unidentified people.
The alleged victim said: "They should make him ... disclose each and every place, so they can try and find these other people, so if it does come (out) some day, they know where it came from."
But he worries that someone may have already uploaded footage to the Internet and that it would be impossible for someone just to do a Google search to see if he or she has been filmed.
"I feel responsible (for seeing) the justice system prevail. I want to make a statement. I feel obligated," he said.
Though he wanted his identity protected, he didn't want to remain silent. He felt by speaking out; it would allow him to at least own the situation in some way, instead of allowing the incident to own him, leaving him feeling ashamed and embarrassed.
The victim's attorney, Francine Gargano, said "anybody who thinks they possibly may have been a victim in any shape or form (should) get in contact with the prosecutor's office."
A spokeswoman for Retro Fitness' corporate office declined to comment "on behalf of the local franchise owner."
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.