A Lake County Magistrate has issued a warrant for new voyeurism charges on a Chicago man who was charged in March with trying to film a woman under a fitting room door.
Enrique G. Fernandez, 35, was initially charged in March with voyeurism, a Level 6 felony and one misdemeanor, after police responded Feb. 12 to the Highland Target, 10451 Indianapolis Blvd., for a woman who told police she was wrapping up trying on some clothes when she noticed someone was holding a cell phone with its camera facing up under her door, the Post-Tribune previously reported. She confronted the man and took his phone but didn’t find any pictures of her on the camera roll, later realizing he could’ve been using an app or livestreaming her
The man, who police identified as Fernandez through a license plate reader, fled the fitting room, got into a blue Nissan and escaped, the Post-Tribune reported. The woman identified him in a lineup, but her sister, who was with her, couldn’t because she didn’t interact with him as directly.
The affidavit does not cite proof that investigators found.
The new charges — one count of Level 6 felony voyeurism and a misdemeanor — stem from detectives suspecting Fernandez may have also tried to hold a cell phone under a fitting room door at the Hobart Target in October 2023, and fled in a similar vehicle. Hobart detectives in February spoke with Highland detectives and relayed the incident in which a 13-year-old girl shopping with her mom and grandmother noticed a younger Hispanic man wearing an orange shirt, tan pants and a possible dark-colored bandana following them around the store, an updated probable-cause affidavit read.
When the girl went to try on clothes, she noticed a phone underneath the stall that she said was recording her, court records show. She screamed for help but didn’t see who owned the phone.
Hobart police officers through surveillance cameras found a man matching Fernandez’s description following the girl into the dressing room, then leaving the dressing room a minute later. They also saw him leave in a blue Nissan similar to the one Highland Police saw in the February incident, court records show.
Investigators noted a grand jury declined to recommend charges in Bay City, Texas in July 2014 after Fernandez was arrested for “invasive visual recording,” the Post-Tribune previously reported.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
