The incident occurred Monday night, when the 25-year old woman getting a tan noticed two hands pointing a camera at her over a wall. Authorities suspect the woman may not be the suspect's only victim.
Johnny Leyva has been charged with using a hidden camera to videotape. Investigators did not say whether the material was recovered.
Leyva is a convicted sex offender on parole for possession of child pornography and other sex crimes.
Leyva was a regular customer at Darque Tan in Mission Viejo.
"You can never tell with people like that. They can be your next-door neighbor, they can be a pastor of a church, they can be your best friend," said a Darque Tan employee, who did not want to be identified.
The employee says Leyva told her he had a pornography addiction after the alleged victim noticed a pair of hands holding a camera above the divider wall and confronted him.
"I felt just as bad as she did," said the employee. "I felt like I was there with her, and it's just very disgusting."
"The suspect actually showed the victim the video of herself lying on the tanning table," said Orange County Sheriff's Department Spokesman Jim Amormino.
Leyva was on parole and wore a GPS tracking device. Authorities were able to trace his name to a sex-offender registry and arrested him at his mother's house in Mission Viejo.
Leyva's mother says she had no idea why police took him away, but didn't feel he deserved to be arrested.
"You could have called him too, to say, you know what, you are spending too much time there or something. Something could have been done," she said. "They didn't have to do this and waste more tax money dollars."
Darque Tan issued a statement: "Darque Tan takes every precaution to secure the privacy of our members. We have 10-foot walls in an industry where 8 feet is the standard. We have banned this deviant from all of our salons and we are cooperating fully with the police."
Because Leyva was a regular customer at the tanning salon and because of his history, investigators believe there are other victims.
If you have information about the incident or are a victim, contact the Orange County Sheriff's Department at (866) TIP-OCSD.
