NORRISTOWN — A Hatboro man has admitted to using a cellphone application to secretly record multiple juveniles using a bathroom at the Horsham Township restaurant where he worked at the time.
Angel Ramos-Cruz, 35, of the 200 block of North York Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of invasion of privacy and possession of child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred in July 2023 while he worked at Main Street Pizzeria and Grille on Blair Mill Road in Horsham.
Judge Thomas C. Branca deferred sentencing until December so that Ramos-Cruz can undergo a psychosexual evaluation.
Ramos-Cruz potentially faces several months in jail on the charges, followed by a lengthy period of probation.
Ramos-Cruz also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if Ramos-Cruz meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions while being supervised on parole or probation.
Ramos-Cruz was permitted to remain free on bail pending his sentencing hearing. As conditions of bail, Ramos-Cruz was ordered to stay away from the Horsham pizza shop and to have no contact with the victims.
Regardless the sentence that Ramos-Cruz eventually receives, he faces a 15-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
The investigation began on July 10, 2023, when Horsham police were dispatched to the pizzeria in the 400 block of Blair Mill Road for a report of suspicious activity, according to a criminal complaint filed by Horsham Detective Gloria Hatcher.
“While a patron was using the restaurant’s only, unisex, single stall bathroom she noticed a cellphone was hidden in a cabinet across from the toilet. When she retrieved the phone it was opened to the camera and appeared to be recording,” Hatcher alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the patron immediately notified employees of the restaurant and the police.
The phone was turned over to police who determined it belonged to Ramos-Cruz, who at that time, worked at the restaurant.
Armed with a search warrant, detectives reviewed the contents of the cellphone and determined it contained an application that permitted the use of two cellphones to create a surveillance system by setting up one phone to record and utilizing another phone to view, according to court papers.
When he was questioned, Ramos-Cruz admitted to setting up the cellphone surveillance system to record pizza shop customers using the bathroom.
When detectives reviewed the contents of Ramos-Cruz’s cellphone they found recordings depicting six juveniles “in varying states of nudity” while using the bathroom on July 10. The victims, male and female, ranged in age from 7 to 17, and they were recorded without their knowledge, detectives alleged.
With the invasion of privacy charge, a misdemeanor, detectives alleged Ramos-Cruz filmed another person in a state of partial or full nudity without that person’s knowledge and consent for the purpose of arousing or gratifying his sexual desire.
The felony charge of possessing child pornography incorporated the six victims depicted in the recordings.
Assistant District Attorney Karla Joann Pisarcik is handling the case. Defense lawyer Richard P. Coble represented Ramos-Cruz during the court proceedings.
