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Man Taking Pics In Bookstore Girl's Bathroom Identified, Had Child Porn, Police Say

A man caught secretly recording females in bathroom stalls at a Barnes & Noble on Route 3 in Clifton was carrying child porn videos, authorities said.

Juan Mejia

Juan Mejia

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Passaic County Prosecutor

Juan Mejia, 44, of Paterson, was being held Friday in the Passaic County Jail pending a detention hearing this coming Wednesday.

Mejia was arrested for secretly videotaping two separate females who were using the bathroom stalls, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Clifton Police Chief Mark Centurione said Friday.He was charged with separate counts of child endangerment for the videos and could face additional counts as an investigation continues, authorities said.

Mejia isn't the same man who police said exposed himself last month to two different girls in Clifton -- and possibly elsewhere, authorities said.

Wednesday's incident at the Clifton Commons shopping center was related by Heather Delaney of Secaucus, who said she was looking for a book with her mother when her cellphone "started going off like crazy."

It was her daughter texting her that someone in the bathroom stall next to her was taking photos with a GoPro camera, she said.

The girl texted that "she was scared and to please find someone and help her," Delaney wrote.

She said she raced ran down the stairs and alerted a group of employees at a kiosk. Then all ran to the bathroom.

"I called out her name and told her to come out. I then looked under the stall next to her... it looked empty," Delaney said. "However I looked down at the floor and saw a shadow of someone perched on top of the toilet."

Delaney woman said she put her daughter behind her and she and a female employee began banging on the stall door.

Finally, a middle-aged man open the door and came out, she said.

"I started to cry," Delaney wrote. "The other employees had already called police and they were there very quickly. They arrested the man and took him out in handcuffs and he has since been charged."

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ALSO SEE: A twice-convicted child molester from Middlesex County was sentenced to five years in state prison Friday for trying to lure a 14-year-old “boy” – actually an undercover detective -- to a local park for sex.

https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/middlesex/police-fire/middlesex-child-molester-gets-5-years-for-trying-to-hook-up-with-boy-14/783761/

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While the prosecutor's office handles that case, Clifton police continued to search a man they said exposed himself last month to two different girls twice in the same day.

The first reported incident on Jan. 24 occurred when a 10-year-old girl walking to School #3 saw a man sitting in a parked vehicle exposing himself to her near the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Fifth Street, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said.

The same day, the same man pulled alongside a 14-year-old girl walking home from Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Bracken said.

"He wasn't wearing any pants and his genitalia was exposed," the lieutenant said.

He was described as chubby, Hispanic and middle-aged, with dark hair, Bracken said, adding that he was driving a maroon colored SUV in the first incident and a light blue Honda Odyssey later.

Anyone who can help identify or find him is asked to contact the Clifton Police Juvenile Division at (973) 470-5882 or the Clifton Police Department Communications Center (973) 470-5911.

Callers can remain anonymous, Bracken said. 

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