Hidden camera case: Former Rancho Palos Verdes employee pleads no contest to secretly recording in bathrooms

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KABC) -- A former building inspector for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes has pleaded no contest to placing hidden cameras in restrooms at city hall and a nearby business and secretly recording dozens of people.

At the time of his arrest, officials alleged Andrew James Jensen of Huntington Beach hid miniature cameras in a unisex employee restroom at Rancho Palos Verdes city hall and at a nearby coffee house. He was initially charged with 89 counts of voyeurism.

The 50-year-old former city employee has now pleaded no contest to 13 misdemeanor counts of unauthorized invasion of privacy: peeking.

He was sentenced to two years in county jail and three years probation. He will also have to perform 45 days of community labor and take sexual impulse classes for a year. He will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Officials say he used the hidden cameras to record 63 women and 26 men in June and July of 2018.

The camera was discovered by a city staffer at city hall on July 5, 2018 and officials say the investigation eventually led to Jensen. The hidden camera - the size of a quarter - was velcroed to the bottom of a bathroom stall dispenser.

Jensen began working for the city as a temporary part-time building inspector in August 2011 and then was hired for a full-time position with the Community Development Department in December 2013, city officials say. He resigned his position with the city.