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Officials had considered canceling classes while police and sheriff's officers continued an hours-long pre-dawn search of the high school and adjoining Janis E. Dismus Middle School campuses for Francisco Jaius Lopez-Martinez, 59, of Bergenfield, who hid out there when he heard police were looking for him.
It began when the victim, who is part of the night shift maintenance and cleaning crew that services the Dwight Morrow, came to police headquarters after finding the camera, Capt. Timothy Torell said.
"She was able to review what was on the camera and saw that her private areas had been taped," Torell said.
The woman also found a clip on the camera showing Lopez-Martinez, her boss, installing the camera, the captain said.
"Shortly thereafter, Lopez-Martinez contacted her asking for the camera back," he said. "She refused."
Police who obtained an arrest warrant found members of the 59-year-old Colombian national's family at the high school late Thursday.
They told detectives that Lopez-Martinez "he was aware he was being sought, apologized for what he had done and threatened to harm himself," Torell said.
Through his job requirements, Lopez-Martinez "had full access to all of Englewood's public schools, both inside and out," the captain said.
Police sealed off the high school and Dismus campuses after learning that he was in the area, Torell said.
Detectives and patrol officers who were joined by a school official and a Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 Unit "made several short and intermittent contacts with Lopez-Martinez, who continued to elude [them]" while threatening to kill himself, he said.
Just after 3 a.m., two family members and Englewood Police Officer Ronald Lane spotted him.
He was carrying what looked like "a large-caliber semi-automatic handgun," Torell said.
MUGSHOT (above): Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF
Family members grabbed Lopez-Martinez and struggled with him while Lane wrested the weapon -- which turned out to be an air-soft gun -- from his hands, the captain said.
No one was injured, he added.
Lopez-Martinez was first taken to New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus for a psychological evaluation, Torell said.
He remained held Tuesday in the Bergen County Jail, charged with invasion of privacy, burglary, resisting arrest, obstruction, hindering and weapons possession, records show.
It appears the woman was the only person targeted by the hidden camera and that no children or school staff were recorded, Torell said.
However, he said, an investigation was continuing.
Authorities also searched all schools to be sure no other devices were planted, the captain said.
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