Nine women are suing several Houston businesses alleging nothing was done to protect them from a janitor who purportedly violated their drinking water and gave them all a sexually transmitted infection, according to court records.
The women worked at different businesses in an east Houston office building where the janitor, Lucio Diaz, was tasked with cleaning at night. Complaints of urine smells plagued the building for weeks prior to the discovery last September that Diaz had been captured on hidden cameras either urinating in a water bottle or rubbing his genitals over the inside of the bottle, according to the lawsuit.
An email disclosed in the lawsuit reveals employees complained in late August about a urine smell near the fourth floor restroom, with some employees believing it was in a carpeted area.
A possible source for the lingering urine smell was finally identified in late September when a woman installed a hidden camera at her desk and alerted building management, Aurum Property Partners LLC, to what the footage showed — Diaz violating her water bottle with his genitals.
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She offered to tell other tenants of her findings but was instructed not to do that. The building officials, she was told, would find a new cleaning company and alert others to the janitor’s behavior. That same night, Diaz continued to clean the building — including her office, the camera footage showed. He was fired two days later.
The other tenants were not told of the water contamination for another four days, the lawsuit contends.
An initial lawsuit was filed last October based on the complaint from the woman who discovered Diaz’s behavior and alerted police. The complaint prompted an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge against Diaz.
Diaz’s employer, Maintenance of Houston Inc., and J.A.M. Cleaning Services, and his supervisors at those companies are also listed as defendants in the case, which claims all of them were negligent. None of the defendants have issued a response to the lawsuit and a court date has not been set.
Diaz, meanwhile, remains jailed and is expected to return to 339th District Court in March. A grand jury indicted Diaz in November on two more counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for similar assertions by two other women. Neither of the two women are among those, identified by their initials only, who have since joined the litigation.
The allegations outlined in the lawsuit are isolated to the original woman’s account but their lawyers contend each of them came in contact with Diaz’s bodily fluids and later “tested positive for incurable sexually transmitted diseases.”
According to police, the first woman tested positive for herpes simplex virus type 1 — although the lawsuit makes no mention of their diagnosis. A court date has not been set for the civil suit.
The realization that Diaz had tampered with the water started when the first woman switched to bringing her own water to work because the water cooler had an odd taste and smell. But soon her water had the same taste and smell.
A doctor in the building tested her water for urine and it came back positive — prompting her to suspect the janitor was involved. A hidden camera was installed and it captured Diaz removing his genitals from his pants and rubbing it on the inside of the bottle. She alerted police to what she saw on the footage.
Diaz, when confronted by officers, purportedly confessed to having touched the bottle inappropriately. He was identified as having herpes simplex virus type 1 and chlamdyia after his arrest, according to court records.
The lawsuit, handled by lawyers Muhammad Aziz and Kimberley Spurlock, contends Diaz did not appear to be nervous when he tampered with the water — as if he had done it before. He told police that he described his actions as “a sickness,” records show.
The women are seeking compensation for the medical care and anguish related to Diaz’s actions.
Discovered on: 2023-01-27 21:10:22
Source: Indicted janitor gave women STD at Houston office: lawsuit
