PHOENIX (AZ)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
January 7, 2025
By Sheila Stogsdill
An influential Latino pastor in Arizona has been accused of hiding a camera in the women’s bathroom at his church and charged with felony voyeurism, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records.
Arturo Laguna Camas was arrested in Nov. 2024 and charged with four counts of unlawful recording, according to 12 News. He was later indicted on voyeurism charges, class 5 felonies, AZFamilyNews reported.
Camas is the pastor of a small Latino immigrant church, the Casa de Adoracion, in Phoenix.
A message left for church officials after hours was not returned and the church’s Facebook page has been deactivated. The church is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ denomination.
Police reportedly were responding to a domestic violence call at a home on Nov. 11, 2024, when they learned that a camera had been found in the bathroom of the church nearby.
FOX 10 Phoenix reported that the camera fell out of a hand dryer while a woman was changing a baby’s diaper. When confronted by police, Camas reportedly confessed to installing the camera in October.
The camera’s SD card held four short videos of adult females using the bathroom and detectives obtained a screenshot showing Camas fixing the camera in the bathroom, the station reported.
Last October, while the pastor reportedly was recording the women, he spoke to the Associated Press about the challenges Latino evangelicals faced during the presidential election.
“We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand, we are against abortion, and on the other, we are concerned about the sharp rhetoric around immigration and lack of reform,” Camas said. “It’s a difficult choice.”
Camas remains in jail and his case is expected to go to trial on March 20.