Police: YMCA janitor arrested for filming underage girls

PALATINE, Ill. (WLS) -- Two girls changing in a locker room at a suburban YMCA were secretly recorded on video and police say the suspect is a custodian who worked there. He has now been fired and faces two felony charges after allegedly hiding behind a curtain with camera in hand.

Elizur Gomez is free on bond as YMCA members learn of his arrest.

"It's terrible," says Jolyn Schiola. "I'm shocked. I just became a member. I'm not sure that I would have had I learned about it before."

Police say the incident happened Sunday at a YMCA in Palatine, Ill. They say Gomez, 34, who is a contracted janitor, allegedly hid in a changing stall and pointed his camera phone underneath a curtain to capture two teenage girls changing out of their swimsuits.

"It's pretty disgusting," says Joe Schiola, a member at the YMCA. "I'm pretty shocked. I didn't think in this area that this would be going on at all. It's definitely shocking. I'm happy that he was caught."

Prosecutors say the girls realized what was happening and alerted a parent and a swim coach who then called police. Gomez was arrested at the facility.

In a statement, the YMCA said: "Any contractor in our building is provided with and required to abide by our rigorous code of conduct and thus we insisted that the suspect be dismissed immediately for his inappropriate behavior, even while the investigation was underway."

"I wouldn't expect something like that to happen, especially when it's a family kind of place here at the YMCA," says Ryan Phillips, YMCA member.

Gomez, who lives here in Palatine, has been charged with two counts of unlawful video recording. Bond was set at $45,000, and officials say he did post the required 10-percent.