Judge orders Justin Obinna Asinobi, 22, not to have contact with his alleged victims
A man accused of hiding a camera to spy on more than two dozen people to film them in various stages of undress pleaded not guilty Monday to 26 misdemeanor counts of unlawful electronic peeping, prosecutors said.
Justin Obinna Asinobi, 22, was supposed to be arraigned Friday, but the proceeding was continued until Monday when he entered his not guilty pleas, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Karapetian told the News-Press.
“The case was assigned for a readiness or settlement conference on 3/8 …,” she said.
Last week, Judge Raimundo Montes de Oca set Mr. Asinobi’s bail at $200,000 and ordered him to not have any contact with his alleged victims, stay out of Isla Vista and be subject to GPS monitoring.
A case involving electronic peeping was initially reported in 2022, and as a result, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office conducted an almost yearlong investigation into the allegations, Prosecutor Karapetian said.
“As a result of that investigation, the District Attorney’s Office charged Mr. Asinobi with allegedly placing hidden cameras in places where persons had a reasonable expectation of privacy,” she told the News-Press previously.
Mr. Asinobi was charged with unlawful electronic peeping between Oct. 1, 2021 and Feb. 15, 2022.
The complaint filed against him alleges that Mr. Asinobi “willfully and unlawfully used a concealed camcorder, motion picture camera or photographic camera to secretly videotape, film, photograph or record by electronic means another identifiable person, or through the clothing worn by that other person, for the purpose of viewing the body or undergarments worn by that other person, without that person’s knowledge or consent.”
A search warrant signed on Feb. 23, 2022 permitted the search of devices belonging to Mr. Asinobi in which the alleged recordings were located, the complaint said.
“After viewing the secret recordings, law enforcement officers were able to identify 12 of the people depicted in the recordings, and although an additional 14 were visible, they have not been identified yet,” Prosecutor Karapetian said previously.
In a move to protect the confidentiality of those alleged victims who were identified, counts 1 through 12 in the complaint lists them only by their initials. In counts 13 through 26 pertaining to alleged victims who remain unidentified, all but four are listed as Jane Doe. The final four are listed as John Doe.
“In theory, he could get up to six months in county jail for each count, as they are all misdemeanors,” Prosecutor Karapetian said.
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