Background: A customer pulls up in the parking lot outside a Buc-ee’s store early Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Johnstown, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski). Inset: Mitchell Wasek booking photo (via Austin Police Department).
Mitchell Wasek, the son of one of the co-founders of the popular gas and travel center chain Buc-ee’s, has been indicted after prosecutors allege he secretly recorded his friends in various states of undress or while using the bathroom or having sex at his places of residence in Dallas and Austin, Texas, as well as in Telluride, Colorado.
A grand jury returned six separate indictments against Wasek, 28, in April but the charges were not formally announced until this week. In a statement, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office said Wasek is charged with 21 counts of felony invasive recording pertaining to 13 victims who he allegedly recorded without their knowledge over the span of two years.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said an investigation continues.
“The Travis County District Attorney’s Office takes the work of presenting all facts and evidence to a grand jury very seriously. In this case, community members heard the evidence and law and decided that Mr. Wasek’s conduct was unlawful,” Garza added.
An attorney for Wasek responded to the allegations in an email to Law&Crime on Thursday.
“Due to the ubiquity 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,” defense attorney David Gonzalez wrote.
The videos were discovered after one of Wasek’s alleged victims found a hidden camera tucked inside of a charging port at Wasek’s lake house in Spicewood, Texas, just outside of Austin.
The person took the memory card from the camera and turned it over to police in Dallas. When Wasek was arrested in October 2023, Texas CBS affiliate KEYE reported that a victim just happened to come across the camera in May of that year. It contained at least 68 movie files from cameras in eight separate rooms of guests at Wasek’s Dallas apartment as well as at a condo in Austin and a vacation property in Telluride.
Sometimes the victims, who were both male and female, appeared undressed or using the toilet. Other videos, according to NBC affiliate KXAN, showed victims showering or changing clothes or having sex.
The properties in Telluride and Austin are both owned by Wasek’s parents, KXAN reported.
During the incidents when the filming occurred, all victims said Wasek was present at the properties though no one else from the Wasek family was. Police said when they investigated the alleged secret recordings, they also determined that Wasek had purchased spy equipment, including a “spy camera” on Amazon, dating back to 2019.
Wasek is a law school student at Southern Methodist University. After his arrest, he was released on bond. A spokesperson for the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A review of the criminal court docket shows Wasek’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 5 in Travis County.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
