A North Miami Beach police captain has resigned following his arrest for recording his adult step-daughter while she was inside the bathroom without her consent, according to a warrant.
Read more Live updates: Today’s South Florida news
Capt. Jose Maya, 40, was arrested on Tuesday by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office on a charge of video voyeurism, according to jail records and the department.
In a post on social media late Thursday, the North Miami Beach Police Department announced that Maya had resigned effectively immediately.
“While his resignation concludes his employment with the department, it does not change the seriousness of the allegations or our commitment to accountability,” the announcement, attributed to Chief Juan Pinillos, reads. “Based on the information available, I had already determined that termination was the appropriate course of action.”
According to a warrant, the victim first became suspicious of Maya after an incident sometime last year as she was getting out of the shower. She said she saw Maya lying on the floor immediately outside the bathroom along with a small black object protruding from under the door.
When she opened the door, she saw Maya “quickly standing up” and he allegedly told her “he had been fixing a motion-activated night light near the bathroom, although she felt his explanation did not make sense,” the warrant states.
Over time, the victim continued noticing a “small black object appearing beneath the bathroom door while she showered,” according to the warrant.
Authorities said on June 28, the victim shared her concerns with her mother, who suggested that the victim secretly record the hallway in front of the bathroom to see if she could confirm her suspicions.
Read more Man shot, killed during dispute in SW Miami-Dade, officials say
The victim did so and then took a normal shower, and saw what “appeared to be the camera protruding beneath the bathroom door,” the warrant states.
Meanwhile, authorities reviewed the victim’s video, and said it captured Maya “lying flat on his stomach and using a cellular telephone and an unknown device to record the Victim from under the bathroom door.”
The sheriff’s office said the victim sent the video to her mother, who confronted Maya and told him to leave the home. Her mother told her one of the videos showed the victim’s buttocks, while other recordings were blurry.
The arrest warrant also states that, according to the victim, Maya “admitted” something to the victim’s mother, but that information was redacted.
Maya was arrested and his bond was set at $7,500.
A statement from North Miami Beach Chief of Police Juan Pinillos posted to the department’s Instagram account after his arrest read in part: “I am deeply disappointed by the arrest of one of our police captains. These allegations are deeply concerning and represent a serious breach of the public’s trust.”
The statement went on to say that Maya was relieved of duty pending the criminal proceedings and an internal investigation.
“We remain committed to transparency, accountability, and holding every member of this departmnet, regardless of rank, to the highest professional standards,” officials said.
Read more Sports