Editor’s note: The Travis County District Attorney’s Office corrected the date of the indictment. That correction is reflected in the story below.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The son of a Buc-ee’s co-founder was indicted in connection to accusations that he secretly recorded people in Texas over the course of two years.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office said on May 17, a grand jury returned six separate indictments, charging 28-year-old Mitchell Wasek with 21 counts of felony invasive visual recording.
“Thirteen separate victims” said Wasek secretly recorded them, the DA’s Office said.
Wasek’s attorney provided a statement to NewsNation affiliate KXAN on Wednesday.
“Due to the ubiquitousness of video recording in modern society, this case involves the legal right to install cameras in one’s own home. May a homeowner install a camera in his home without telling housekeepers or guests, or does the guest have a greater legal right than the homeowner? This is one of many thorny legal issues we will be litigating in this case,” attorney David Gonzalez said.
According to court records obtained by KXAN in 2023, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office received a telephone complaint in May 2023 alleging improper photography happened at a home on the banks of Lake Travis.
At that time, Travis Central Appraisal District property records listed the owner of the multi-million dollar home to be Donald E. Wasek, Wasek’s father and a co-founder of Buc-ee’s.
The documents stated a woman found a hidden camera plugged into a bathroom wall at the home. The camera had dozens of video files of people in bathrooms and bedrooms.
The affidavit said a warrant was obtained to review the contents on the camera and found 68 movie files containing at least 13 male and female individuals being recorded “using toilets, showering, changing clothes, and/or having sex.”
According to court records, the complainants all said Mitchell Wasek was present at the time of the offenses but said no other member of the Wasek family was there during these times.
The Travis County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the accusations is ongoing, the release said.
If convicted, a state jail felony carries a sentence of not more than two years or less than 180 days confinement.