Son of Buc-ee's co-founder accused of using spy cameras to record people using toilets, showering, and having sex



The son of a Buc-ee's co-founder – who is also a law student at Southern Methodist University – is accused of using spy cameras to record people using toilets, showering, and having sex.

Mitchell Wasek, 28, was arrested on Tuesday in Travis County, Texas. He was charged with 28 felony counts of invasive visual recording. Wasek was released from jail after posting $280,000 bail, and barred from making any contact with the complainants.

In May, guests were staying at a multimillion-dollar house on the banks of Lake Travis, northwest of Austin, Texas. WRIC-TV reported that the owner of the house is Donald E. Wasek, a co-founder of Buc-ee's and the father of Mitchell Wasek, according to county property records.

One of the houseguests – who works in cybersecurity for the Department of Defense – noticed a charging port with a hidden camera that was plugged into the wall of one of the bathrooms, according to court documents. After the discovery, the group of friends reportedly left the lake house with the spy camera and its micro-card.

The micro-card had dozens of videos of guests secretly recorded at the lake house and at Mitchell Wasek's apartment in Dallas, the affidavit states.

KXAN-TV reported, "After a warrant was obtained to review the camera's contents, investigators found 68 videos of at least 13 different individuals. The videos showed them 'using toilets, showering, changing clothes, and/or having sex,' according to KXAN's review of the affidavit."

"They were unaware that the recordings existed in the bedroom and bathroom, and indicated they did not consent to being recorded or photographed," a Travis County sheriff’s deputy wrote in the affidavit.

No other members of the Wasek family were at the lake house besides Mitchell Wasek, the accusers told authorities.

The affidavit states that the memory card stored videos dating back to 2021. The spy cameras were allegedly hidden inside a downtown Austin condo and a vacation home in Telluride, Colorado, both owned by Mitchell Wasek’s parents, according to property records.

There are records showing that Mitchell Wasek purchased a half-dozen spy cameras from Amazon, according to the affidavit.

Wasek faces up to two years in state jail per count if convicted.

Wasek is currently a student at SMU’s Dedman School of Law, a spokesperson for the school confirmed to the Dallas Morning News.

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Iowa bill proposes video cameras in nearly every classroom. State teachers union calls measure 'completely outrageous and dangerous.'



The Iowa State Education Association is dead set against a state bill proposing video cameras in nearly every K-12 classroom so that parents can keep an eye on what's happening with their children.

"The inappropriateness of belief that there should be continual videotaping in a classroom is something that should not even be considered," Mike Beranek, president of the ISEA told KCCI-TV reported.

Beranek put it more bluntly to NBC News, calling the bill “completely outrageous and dangerous.”

What are the details?

The bill, H.F. 2177, requires cameras in every public school classroom in the state, except for physical education and special education classes, the network said, adding that parents, guardians, and others could then view classroom livestreams.

Republican state Rep. Norlin Mommsen, who authored the bill, told KCCI he believes the measure "continues the parental involvement that has occurred due to COVID."

But NBC News said advocates for teachers are saying the underlying idea is to censor classrooms and intimidate educators who focus on subjects such as race and history.

Indeed, education groups and unions aren't thrilled.

"Some politicians around the country want to limit not only what history our kids can learn about and what books they can read, censor the truth of our history in some cases, and, now in Iowa, they want to install classroom cameras for live monitoring of teachers," Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association — the largest educators union in the U.S. — told NBC News.

Pringle added to the network that instead of forking over cash for "monitoring equipment," money should be spent on more teachers and programming and getting to smaller class sizes.

Who would pay?

KCCI said the bill indicates schools would pay for the cameras.

"Our funding is shrinking," Beranek told the station. "We're being asked to take more out of that instead of finding more to serve the students we have."

Mommsen, however, told KCCI that "we already have a system through COVID," adding that cameras on teachers' laptops could be set in the backs of classrooms so student privacy is protected.

But Beranek added to the station that "there are federal laws that this bill violates in terms of privacy and the work that our students do in our classrooms."

What if teachers don't comply?

If the bill passes and teachers don't comply, they could face fines, KCCI said. Those fines could be as much as 5% of weekly salary per infraction, NBC News said.

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