Man filmed female
roommates in bathroom,
pleads no contest

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Two former female roommates of a professional photographer said they felt betrayed when they found out they had been secretly filmed for years in the bathroom of the Makiki house they once shared with him.

"He not only abused our friendship and our trust in him, but he abused his professional privileges," said one of the woman, who had been Warren Kawamoto's housemate for two years.

Trial for Kawamoto, 37, was supposed to begin yesterday in Honolulu District Court and the two women were set to testify against him.

But Kawamoto did not go forward with the trial. He instead pleaded no contest to three counts of invasion of privacy, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or a $2,000 fine.

Kawamoto is scheduled to be sentenced 1:30 p.m. Dec. 18 before District Judge Leslie Hayashi.

"He's not disputing the charges. He wishes to put this behind him," Kawamoto's lawyer, Hayden Aluli, said.

"He has apologized and has explained his remorsefulness to (the victims), and by pleading no contest he has reiterated his acceptance of responsibility."

The case came to the attention of police after Kawamoto's part-time assistant saw an object attached to the toilet bowl April 29.

Police used the information to obtain a search warrant and then they raided the Nehoa Place home on May 15.

Kawamoto gave police a pin-hole camera and videotapes that led to the charges against him. Police said the activity had been going on since 1991.

The former roommates, who along with the assistant are named as the victims in the charges, said they considered themselves to be his closest women friends but were shocked and angered when they were identified as being on the videotapes.

The women, who requested that their names not be used, said that the bathroom where the video taping occurred was the bathroom used by all the roommates except for Kawamoto, who had his own bathroom because he had the master bedroom.

Kawamoto's photography studio also was located in the house.

The women said there were two hidden cameras -- one in the toilet bowl -- in the bathroom.

"He's seen everything -- using the bathroom, taking a shower, changing feminine products," one of the women said.

They also said there was a videotape of him setting up the equipment in the bathroom.

A total of 10 former roommates -- men and women -- were identified in the tapes, but there were some on the tapes who weren't recognizable because of the angle of the camera, the women said. They said they don't know if any of the unidentified people on the tapes were clients.

They also said that Kawamoto at first thought that he did nothing wrong. "He tried to pass it off as a joke but you can't have a joke for seven years," one of the women said.

"I just want him to get help," the other woman said.

Aluli said that Kawamoto is undergoing counseling and hopes that the victims will be satisfied with his course of action.

"Mr. Kawamoto is a good person. He has no prior (criminal) record. He really got lost in the sophistication of the video gadgetry," Aluli said. "He fell into a prankish behavior and didn't intend to harm anyone."

Deputy Prosecutor Jeen Kwak said that what Kawamoto did was against the law.

"Invasion of privacy, it doesn't happen everyday, but when it happens like this, our office takes it very seriously," she said. "The victims ... were very surprised and hurt by this."