San Antonio police say a 31-year-old man is behind bars after a teenage girl reported that she was secretly recorded while using a bathroom in a local home. Investigators allege that video from a phone shows the man hiding the device in the bathroom, then capturing footage of a 15-year-old girl undressing, unaware she was being filmed. The suspect has been identified as Nicholas Ryan Sanchez.
According to an arrest affidavit, the recordings date back to August 2025 and came to light when the girl’s mother found inappropriate photos and video on Sanchez’s phone and told him to leave the house. She later turned over to police a video and a photo collage from the phone that allegedly included images of her daughter, and witnesses identified the people shown as Sanchez and the 15-year-old. Sanchez allegedly apologized and told the mother he had a pornography addiction, as reported by WOAI.
Legal Implications
Sanchez is charged with invasive visual recording, a state-jail felony in Texas that can carry between 180 days and two years in state jail, along with fines of up to $10,000. The statute makes it a crime to photograph or electronically record a person in a bathroom or changing area, or to capture images of someone’s intimate parts without consent, and it also extends to promoting or sharing that material. Those provisions are detailed in state law, as outlined by Texas Public Law.
Lawmakers toughened how this offense is handled in 2025 and added new reporting rules in some situations. HB 1465, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2025, added invasive visual recording to the list of convictions that can require sex-offender registration. Because the affidavit alleges the recording happened in August 2025, that timeline could play a role in any registration requirements and other post-conviction fallout, according to the bill text on file with LegiScan.
How This Fits Locally
San Antonio has seen a string of hidden-camera cases in recent years that show how quickly privacy can be shattered. In one 2025 case, investigators arrested a former veterinary-hospital employee after a pinhole camera hidden in a staff bathroom allegedly recorded hundreds of videos of co-workers, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Cases like these often leave detectives trying to reconstruct what happened from tiny devices, erased files and footage that victims usually discover long after the fact.
Police say Sanchez was arrested on Feb. 14 and is being held at the Bexar County Jail on a $25,000 bond. His next hearing date will appear in a magistrate docket or future court filings. Authorities say the affidavit is part of an active investigation, and prosecutors will decide whether to pursue additional charges and set the case schedule, according to WOAI.
