Nicholas James Fernandez, the former TSA agent arrested for shooting video up the skirt of a woman at Sea-Tac Airport, will not go to jail.
Instead, the 29-year-old Tukwila construction worker will have to register as a sex offender and undergo a sexual deviancy evaluation and treatment.
As part of a plea deal, Fernandez pleaded guilty last month to attempted voyeurism, a gross misdemeanor, instead of facing trial on a felony voyeurism charge.
At his sentencing hearing Friday, Fernandez was supported in court by his wife, family, friends and current boss as he apologized.
"I obviously made a very poor life choice," Fernandez said. "Not because I got caught or wish that I hadn't or anything like that, but because it was a very selfish and perverse act that I committed."
The question that still remains: How many women might have been Fernandez’s target during the five years he worked for the TSA?
The allegations that landed him under arrest first came to light because of airline passenger John Comes, who spoke with KIRO 7 in July about what he saw Fernandez do while on duty, in uniform. “I saw this bright light and I noticed it was his phone, and he was holding it down by his knee,” Comes said. “He was trying to take a picture up the skirt of this woman."
Comes also reported what he saw to police.
Fernandez was placed under surveillance.
While agents with the TSA and Port of Seattle police were watching and following him, Fernandez again tried to shoot video up a woman’s skirt at Sea-Tac.
“We didn’t have identified victims. Instead we had on-views by an individual who actually called KIRO TV,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kathy Van Olst said in court.
According to a certified sex offender treatment provider who evaluated Fernandez after his arrest, the former TSA agent “has acted out more than one form of sexual deviancy and has been impulsive, opportunistic and pre-meditated, both hands off and hands on, and has targeted people that he knows and strangers.”
While announcing her sentencing decision, King County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Berns said she’s “concerned” about Fernandez’s behavior. She ordered him to undergo a sexual deviancy evaluation and treatment; if he doesn't, he will go to jail.
“There are no indications that I have at this point that this was an isolated incident or that it was an anomaly,” Judge Berns said.
As part of his plea deal, Fernandez also agreed to have no position of authority or trust over women.
Cox Media Group
