While swimsuit models were changing in and out of their skimpy Lu Berry swimsuits at a Southampton fashion show in July, there a camera in the dressing room secretly documenting every little move of their lithe young bodies. The Suffolk County DA's office says a Long Island man named Robert Liguori, 51, installed the camera on a shelf in the changing room to photograph the models against their will, and he's being arraigned today on felony charges.
"One of the victims realized there was a camera going on the room," Det. Sgt. Herman Lamison tells the local Patch. The fashion show took place on July 12th, but the police weren't notified until a week later. Liguori, a registered sex offender, wasn't arrested until Tuesday, and he's still being held in lieu of $32,000 cash bail. Earlier this week, investigators acting on a search warrant searched his home and seized photographs and other materials. "We still have a lot of things we still need to go through," Sgt. Lamison says.
He's pleading not guilty and will be arraigned today charged with four counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, a felony, with one charge for each victim. The Patch also reports that he was charged with three misdemeanor counts of attempted surveillance in the second degree, "based on three other models who were never recorded undressing."
Fox News reports that Liguori was convicted in 2000 on charges of trafficking in child pornography, transmitting child porn and transporting it interstate. He's also been charged with stalking and indecent exposure after allegedly lifting up a dress he was wearing to expose his genitals to a female sales clerk at a clothing store earlier this month, and returning twice the next day in search of the same clerk.
