A custodian at a Houston medical office building was arrested after allegedly urinating in a water bottle belonging to a co-worker who later contracted an STD.
Since the disgusting ordeal came to light, 11 other victims have come forward and are being tested for STDs, according to court documents obtained by KHOU.
The victim began bringing in her own store-bought water bottles every day after getting water from a dispenser in the office in August that tasted and smelled funny, she told investigators.
If she didn’t finish her water during the workday, she would leave it on her desk to drink the following day, said the woman, a 54-year-old mother of two.
As the days went by, the woman noticed that the water she had been bringing in herself started to smell nasty as well, but she could never figure out what it was, according to court documents.
Custodian Lucio Catarino Diaz admitted to police that he had urinated in the woman’s water bottle.KHOU
When a co-worker offered to make her a coffee in September, she asked them if they could use water from her bottle instead of the dispenser due to the smell. Her co-worker looked at her water bottle, and she noted that it looked yellow.
“I felt disgusted,” the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told KHOU. “I raised it to my face, smelled it, and it smelled like urine.”
A doctor the victim worked for conducted a urinalysis on the water, confirming the woman’s worst fears. The doctor suspected it might have been the custodian.
When the victim told other co-workers what had happened, one woman said that the same thing had happened to her, according to court documents.
The victim set up a hidden camera in the office that caught the custodian, identified by police as Lucio Catarino Diaz, rubbing his genitals on her water bottle.
She provided the video and two water bottles to the police the next day. When officers confronted Diaz, he confessed, claiming he did it out of “malicious intent” and that it was a “sickness,” the document says.
Custodian Lucio Catarino Diaz was caught on the victim’s hidden camera rubbing his genitals on her water bottle.KHOU
Diaz was arrested after the woman brought the video and two water bottles to the police.KHOU
Diaz told police he had done something similar at a previous job where he had worked for eight months. He said he couldn’t recall how many times he had done this before and was not aware that he had any STDs.
Lab results confirmed that the victim had contracted an STD that she had not previously had, according to court documents. Diaz tested positive for the same disease as well as a second one.
“It’s really just disgusting and my client will suffer the consequences of this man’s action for the rest of her life,” the victim’s attorney, Kim Spurlock, told KHOU.
It’s not clear if any other victims have tested positive for an STD.
Diaz was charged with aggravated assault and is being held on an immigration hold, the outlet reported.
Discovered on: 2022-10-19 00:53:25
Source: Custodian accused of urinating in woman’s water bottle, giving her STD
