Waitress Applicants Videotaped Naked

Yahoo ^ | Fri Mar 26 | Dan Whitcomb

[Fzob]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 82 women were secretly videotaped naked or partly undressed while applying for jobs at a Los Angeles-area Hooters restaurant and changing into the chain's distinctive uniform, police said on Thursday.

Detectives in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina were interviewing the women, who range in age from 17 to 25, after seizing 180 video files from the personal computer of former Hooters manager Juan Aponte, police spokesman Rudy Lopez said.

"The videos were of the women changing into and out of the Hooters uniform," Lopez said, and were taken while they applied for a job at the restaurant, which is scheduled to open in April, at a trailer on the construction site.

At the interview they were told to change into the uniform of bright orange shorts and a white tank-top bearing the Hooters logo and were surreptitiously videotaped, he said.

"We're taking photographs of the girls in the videotapes and comparing them with the applications and that's who we're trying to contact," Lopez said, adding that while more than 1,200 women had applied it appeared that not all were taped.

"They are appalled," Lopez said of the victims. "They are angry, upset, emotional and had absolutely no knowledge this had taken place."

Lopez said Aponte, 32, had not been arrested but that detectives hoped to present a case to prosecutors for possible charges within days. He said Hooters officials had been "very, very cooperative" in the investigation.

Aponte's lawyer, Brian Michaels, declined to comment on the details of the case, but said, "We've been cooperative with the police and we're going to remain cooperative to the extent that it helps my client and clears this matter."

Mike McNeil, a spokesman for Hooters, said the Atlanta-based restaurant chain was disturbed by the case.

"The restaurant chain is in no way implicated in this," McNeil said. "In our 21-year history we've never seen anything like this before and we're very concerned about it. We're doing everything we can to cooperate."

McNeil said Hooters applicants were not expected to model uniforms during job interviews, adding: "This manager was in clear violation of our written policies and then went beyond that and appears to have broken the law."

[guitfiddlist]

Detectives in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina were interviewing the women, who range in age from 17 to 25, after seizing 180 video files from the personal computer of former Hooters manager Juan Aponte, police spokesman Rudy Lopez said.

I'm sure there will be a thorough review of the evidence.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Check the ownership records for the franchise. I imagine you'd find one WJB Clinton listed among the investors.

[gortklattu]

I don't believe this happened.....where's the proof?

[ovrtaxt]

Waitress applicants for Hooters? whaddyaknow. I figured they were applying for the snack bar at the Clinton library.

[New Horizon]

Lopez said, adding that while more than 1,200 women had applied it appeared that not all were taped.

They should at least be fired for incompetence.

[billorites]

[DustyMoment]

The first clue that something was wrong was when they had to change into a Hooters uniform before the restaurant owner knew whether or not he could hire them.

If neither the resume nor the interview provide enough evidence to make a hiring decision, wearing a uniform shouldn't change anything.

[Cvengr]

...police spokesman Rudy Lopez said. ... "We're taking photographs of the girls in the videotapes and comparing them with the applications and that's who we're trying to contact," ...

Aponte's lawyer, Brian Michaels, declined to comment on the details of the case, but said, "We've been cooperative with the police and we're going to remain cooperative to the extent that it helps my client and clears this matter."

Lopez said Aponte, 32, had not been arrested ...

Surely there are criminal charges which would warrant an arrest without third parties also looking at the tapes and making copies of each naked woman and distributing them to others prior to any official action being taken.

Reads to me that the cops might also become class action defendants in this issue.

IMHO, no need to arrest, just post the manager's address in the newspaper and I suspect the prospective waitresses and their boyfriends/husbands will handle the situation out of court.

[keats5]

Wow! A fine establishment like Hooters exploiting young women!
(When will women learn?)

[baltodog]

What kind of sick animal would want to see them naked???!!!

Gotta' go...my wife is coming...

[Archangelsk]

The tapes, stills, etc. are probably proliferating over the Internet as we type.

[Archangelsk]

Wow! A fine establishment like Hooters exploiting young women! (When will women learn?)

As soon as Adam Smith gets his hand out of economics then women will learn.

[IronJack]

They're offended at being videotaped naked, but have no problem with "working" half-naked. Modesty wouldn't seem to be the defining characteristic of Hooters personnel.

By the same token, this creep should be flogged through the public square.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

You are right. I am surprised Hooters get away with such obvious discrimination in their hiring practices...

[Moonmad27]

The ones who were NOT videotaped probably feel worse - didn't they measure up enough to be taped? The whole thing reminds me of the South Park episode "Raisins", where the kids go to the restaurant, and one believs that the waitresses are really interested in him, when it's all an act.

[Bonaparte]

Or selling like hotcakes in Asia, Europe, etc. Expect a settlement payout from Hooters.

[cyborg]

LOL!!!!

[null and void]

Where? You got a URL???

[Archangelsk]

Where? You got a URL???

No idea, I'm just stating the obvious.