Manager Charged Over Dressing Room Videos

The manager of an Escondido ice cream parlor was arrested Friday and charged in connection with surreptitiously videotaping four female teen-age employees as they changed clothes in his office prior to reporting for work.

Jerry Mason, 27, who authorities said is married and is the father of a young son, was arrested at his Escondido home shortly after 7:30 a.m. Friday. He has been charged with surreptitious videotaping of the girls, who were between the ages of 15 and 19.

Mason was manager of the Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor in the 1200 block of East Valley Parkway.

Detective Ralph Claytor said Mason hid a video recorder under a milk crate in his office, and then invited the girls to use the room to change their clothes. “Most of the girls only got down to panties and underwear,” he said. “But that’s a crime.”

Authorities were tipped off to the case after an assistant manager discovered the tape and turned it over to police.

Claytor said Mason will be charged with sexual battery and false imprisonment. Over a two-year period, he reportedly forced at least a dozen female employees into a back room, where he pinned them against the wall, groped their breasts and tried to kiss them.

Mason was responsible for scheduling and job assignments and reportedly used that leverage to take advantage of his victims.

“If the girls didn’t protest, they were given better jobs and better hours,” Claytor said. “If they resisted, he badgered them until they quit.”

Several of the girls came forward after police began investigating the videotaping, police said. Many did not know Mason was allegedly committing a crime and therefore had not reported the incidents, Claytor said.

David Ancona, acting store manager, said Mason had been employed at the parlor for 13 years.