El Paso hotel worker accused of secretly filming nurses in restroom during conference
EL PASO, Texas -- Thirteen women filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday alleging that an El Paso hotel worker with a known criminal history secretly filmed up their skirts in a hotel restroom during a recent nursing conference.
The suit filed against the owners and operators of the Hilton Garden Inn El Paso University Hotel and employee David Monastere contends that Monastere "methodically planned upskirting of over a dozen female nurses on February 21, 2021 during a nursing training conference" held at the hotel.
In the complaint, the nurses' attorney Cesar Ornelas also maintains that the 46-year-old Monastere had prior convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint and assault causing bodily injury. Ornelas said the Hilton Garden Inn, located at 111 W. University Avenue, hired Monastere despite knowing of those incidents.
The lawsuit claims Monastere set up a cell phone camera in a women's restroom at the hotel that captured revealing images of nurses attending the conference. When one of the women found the hidden restroom camera and it was reported to hotel management, the suit says they allowed Monastere to gather his belongings and leave before the arrival of El Paso police.
Police last month arrested Monastere and charged him with nine criminal counts of invasive visual recording in a case that is still pending. He's currently free from jail on $45,000 bond.
Ornelas, in a statement announcing the lawsuit's filing, called Monastere an "animal who belongs in prison."
“This is some of the most disgusting, damaging, and horrific abuse a man can inflict on a woman, and Defendant Monastere is alleged to have victimized countless women in this manner,” said Ornelas.
Hilton officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC-7. Attempts to reach Monastere for comment were unsuccessful, with family members telling ABC-7 that Monastere wasn't home.
You can read the entire civil lawsuit below.
