Fernando Cabrera Barbosa has a fetish that he admits is “out of control,” said Sunrise Police.
He was caught in a public restroom using a cellphone to take pictures of women and girls in adjacent stalls in the Oasis area of the Sawgrass Mills mall, according to the arrest report.
At about 1 p.m. Monday, a 13-year-old girl noticed a black cellphone peeking over the stall’s wall. When she stood up to see why, she saw someone holding the cellphone over the opposite stall’s wall, the report stated.
She left the restroom and told another shopper.
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Patricia Souza went into the restroom and waited for the suspicious person to exit the stall. She noticed that person changing out of black and white high-top running shoes and slipping into women’s tan ballet-style slippers, police said.
When Cabrera Barbosa exited the stall, Souza realized he was a man and grabbed him by a blue backpack he was wearing, according to the report.
“You’re a man,” she yelled. “What are you doing in the girls’ bathroom?!”
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He broke free and left the restroom, but Souza called for help and mall patrons subdued and held Cabrera Barbosa until police arrived.
Officers put him in a patrol car to separate him from the growing crowd, police said.
During questioning, detectives said he confirmed what had happened at the mall and admitted he had a fetish that was “out of control.”
The 30-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was charged with video voyeurism involving a child younger than 16.
At his first court appearance Tuesday morning, bond was set at $60,000.
Broward assistant state attorney Eric Linder argued it should be $100,000.
“He’s been doing this since 2018, capturing hundreds of videos over that time using the same restroom on every single occasion,” Linder said. “The frequency has gone up to two times a week… that’s what the issue is, he hasn’t been caught. He doesn’t appear to have any control.”
As part of his release conditions, Cabrera Barbosa was told to have no contact with the victim, avoid children, stay off the internet, he must wear a GPS ankle monitor, and must stay at least one mile away from the Sawgrass Mills mall, records show.
