A lawsuit has been filed against a Buffalo Grove man and owner of an ice cream shop who is accused of secretly recording children using the restroom in his shop and in his home, which attorneys called “atrocious.”
The Addison Police Department said they received an anonymous complaint of suspicious activity in August at Flavor Frenzy, 48 West Lake Street in Addison.
The complainant reported that there appeared to be a fake wall electrical outlet in the shop’s restroom, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.
An undercover officer with the Addison Police Department went to Flavor Frenzy after the complaint was made.
The officer observed what appeared to be an outlet in the shop’s bathroom with a small black lens in one of the receptacles that was positioned to capture portions of the restroom, including a urinal, prosecutors said.
A search warrant was obtained and officers removed the phony outlet. They discovered it contained a camera that appeared to have recording capabilities.
Investigators determined Steven Weisberg, 58, of Buffalo Grove, who owns the ice cream shop, installed the camera a few years earlier, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said he was able to access and save the video footage from the camera on his laptop and cell phone.
Following the search warrant at his home and ice cream shop, investigators found 11 videos in his phone’s deleted folder.
They depicted six different people, including at least three who were female employees at Flavor Frenzy, using the ice cream shop’s restroom, prosecutors said.
One of the videos showed a female trying on different Flavor Frenzy T-shirts. Her chest was completely exposed to the camera throughout the video.
Detectives were able to identify the female in the video as a 16-year-old female employee at Flavor Frenzy, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Weisberg had asked the girl to try on and model different T-shirts for the business. She had to use the shop’s bathroom to change into the T-shirts.
Detectives found two additional videos on Weisberg’s phone of female employees, one of whom is a minor, at various stages of undress exposing their buttocks and sex organs, prosecutors said.
At least four additional minor female employees reported to the Addison Police Department since Weisberg’s arrest that Weisberg had asked them to model T-shirts.
They said he told them to remove their bras for the photos so that there would be no bra outline in the photos, prosecutors said.
Weisberg was charged with two counts of production of child pornography, a Class X felony, and two counts of unauthorized video recording, a Class 3 felony.
Chicago-based law firm Pullano and Siporin announced Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Flavor Frenzy and Weisberg.
The firm said they represent a now-19-year-old woman, who is identified in the suit as Jane Doe to protect her privacy, and is alleging she suffered an invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the Illinois Gender Violence Act.
According to the suit, Weisberg perpetrated a multi-faceted scheme to “groom, deceive and manipulate” Jane Doe and other employees through tactics that included inappropriate touching, sexually suggestive comments and repeated offers of drugs and alcohol.
The lawsuit alleges Weisberg unlawfully viewed images of her and other victims, marking the culmination of a calculated “scheme of sexual exploitation” he orchestrated.
In addition to the camera found in the ice cream shop, police also found a camera inside a bathroom at Weisberg’s home.
Jane Doe had been secretly recorded on the hidden camera inside Weisberg’s home before and after she had showered following a game of pickleball that Weisberg had invited her to play.
Weisberg repeatedly invited her and was the one to suggest to her that she shower before they headed to work together, attorneys said.
“This sordid pattern of misconduct has been going on for three or four years,” attorney Richard Pullano said, adding that Weisberg mostly employed 15-20 year olds, many of them female, after posting seasonal job ads at local high schools.
“This man’s deception of his own employees and others for his own personal sexual gratification is atrocious. The premeditation and preparation involved in carefully setting up the cameras—which we’ve now learned happened in more than one location—makes it all the more chilling,” Pullano said.
“Our plaintiff’s mental and emotional state has been shattered by these discoveries. As she revisits the sequence of events, she feels intense anger and sadness,” he added.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000 for mental and emotional suffering.
“Our plaintiff has told us the whole incident has been indescribable, and she’s having a very difficult time wrapping her head around it,” attorney Mathew Siporin said.
“She feels like she’s in a constant daze. As she revisits the sequence of events, she feels violated and vulnerable. Her ability to trust others has been shattered,” Siporin said.
Weisberg, who remains held in the DuPage County Jail, is scheduled to appear in court again on September 15.