Hidden cameras bring sex charges

? A central Kansas man was charged Friday with two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child after a family member found hidden cameras throughout his Bridgeport home.

Mario Alejandro Schiaffino, 58, also was charged with seven misdemeanor eavesdropping counts. He has not yet hired an attorney.

The Saline County Sheriff’s Office arrested Schiaffino on Tuesday night after a female family member contacted authorities. Investigators reviewed hours of VHS tape and decided upon the charges, Lt. Brent Melander said. The charges stemmed from images found on those tapes, officials said.

The Salina Journal reported Friday that the cameras were in place since July and had captured images of family members without their consent, sometimes in stages of undress. Melander declined to say how many cameras were in the home or where they were located, other than to say they were in locations where family members would have an expectation of privacy.

A female family member told Wichita television station KWCH that she found a hidden camera in the bathroom and notified authorities.

“At first you just don’t believe it,” she said. “You’re angry because you are the one that had to say something, and you feel guilty for it even though you did not do anything wrong.”

Schiaffino appeared in court Friday to hear the charges against him, but he did not enter a plea. He is to appear in court again Monday morning.

Melander said Schiaffino did not live alone at the home, but he didn’t know how many other people lived there.

Under state law, eavesdropping occurs when a recording device is used to record private conversations or personal conduct, or to secretly record an identifiable person under or through their clothing without their consent, in an area where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Schiaffino was being held in Saline County jail on $25,000 bond Friday.