WEWS parent company E.W. Scripps is being sued by the father of a ten-year-old boy who claims his son was one of those recorded by a camera hidden in the station bathroom.
The lawsuit, which includes the Cleveland ABC affiliate’s former Director of Engineering, alleges the boy was secretly recorded while using both the toilet and the urinals in the men’s restroom.
The hidden camera was discovered in the first floor bathroom in July. The boy known only as R.G. is said to have “regularly accompanied his mother to the station while she worked as a personal makeup artist for several WEWS news anchors and reporters during evening newscasts last summer.”
Former director of engineering Berry Pinney authorized facilities manager Terry Joyce to install the camera to catch someone who had allegedly been wiping snot on a urinal.
According to the lawsuit, Sam Rosenwasser, then Scripps VP and GM of WEWS ordered Pinney to delete the recorded videos. Rosenwasser left WEWS December 15.
“For a news organization to delete video evidence is downright hypocritical,” said Tom Merriman, lawyer for the plaintiff. “If this were a law enforcement agency which destroyed video of people’s rights being violated, it would be the lead story on Channel 5’s newscasts for a week.”
The suit seeks punitive damages for both the invasion of the boy’s privacy and for the “spoliation” of evidence.
Scripps spokesperson Carolyn Mischeli told TVSpy the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.