Last week I wrote about reports of creeps harassing women on the DC Metro. There was one story in that post about a man using his phone to look up a woman’s skirt. Today we learn that at least one person pleaded guilty to something similar last year. His name is William Mendoza and he was a policy adviser for President Obama working at the Department of Education. From the Daily Mail:

William Mendoza, 42, the former executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, stepped down after he was arrested and charged with attempted voyeurism in November, 2016, for the vile acts.

Mendoza, who earned $140,000 a year as a policy advisor in Obama’s White House, tried to take photos and videos up women’s skirts at least four times on his government-issued iPhones in July 2016 without their consent…

When he took the indecent photos, he was supposed to be at work and was using a travel card funded by the taxpayer, according to documents obtained by DailyMail.com through a Freedom of Information Act request.

He was seen doing this at least four or five times in two days. The first two incidents occurred on July 5, 2016. The next incident, just two days later, resulted in Mendoza being chased out of the station by witnesses.

On July 7, 2016, at 8.23am a witness saw Mendoza behind a woman at the McPherson Square Metro station.

The victim was seen pulling her dress closer to her legs to cover up when she noticed the illuminated light of the cell phone, the documents state.

Police say he ran out of the train station after someone noticed his surreptitious actions while a bystander shouted ‘stop’…

Later on July 7, at 6.19pm, Mendoza was caught on a surveillance camera taking out his phone and looking at a video showing a woman’s underwear underneath a white dress.

The following day, July 8, Mendoza was seen following a woman onto an escalator. He snapped a pic of her (under her dress) and then walked back down the stairs and waited in the station until another woman caught his eye.

The DC Metro police informed DOE they were investigating in August 2016. The Inspector General for the DOE launched an internal investigation but Mendoza quit his job in November 2016 before it was complete. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor voyeurism charge in January 2017 and was given a year of probation.

This seems like somewhat light treatment under the circumstances. WMATA had evidence that Mendoza took pictures of 4-5 different women. Why wasn’t he charged with one count per incident? Instead he seems to have received the bare minimum, i.e. probation and a $100 fine.