Monday, March 10, 2025

41-year-old Fernando Bustos, Out On A $750 Cash Bail, Charged With Video Recording Female Students While Semi-nude At Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Locker Room In Milwaukee

Bustos was ordered to report to the Milwaukee County jail on March 13 to be processed for one felony count of invading privacy by use of surveillance device. 

By H. Nelson Goodson 
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 10, 2025

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On March 5, 2025, Fernando Bustos, 41, was taken into custody by police and posted a $750 cash bail bond, pending a preliminary hearing on March 13 and a Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office booking process, according to Milwaukee County court records.

On March 3, Bustos was charged with one felony count for invading privacy by use of surveillance device, he had an open felony warrant, but has since been rescinded.

If convicted, Bustos is facing up to 3 years and 6 months in prison and up to $10,000 in fines, or both.

School administrators became aware of Bustos illegal acts after hundreds of 10-second videos were discovered in a SD card in his office at the school, which was reviewed by staff. The Bustos videos were recorded from May 21, 2024 to February 1, 2025.

Bustos was the school's security coordinator and was collecting his belongings after getting fired for performance issues. He had left a camera with a SD card in his office, according to the administration.

On February 19, the school notified police about Bustos unauthorized video surveillance of female students in their locker room, which one girl was video recorded semi nude.

When police reviewed the videos, it showed Bustos installing a camera in the girl's locker room in October 2024, which is used by female students from 9th to 12th grade, according to the criminal complaint.

According to information sent to student parents, Andrew Stith, the President at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School confirmed that police are only investigating Bustos for secretly video recording 6 female students in the locker room, despite over 379 clips of videos recorded in October 7 - 8 in 2024 that were recovered and reviewed by police. It is not confirmed by police, if Bustos shared or uploaded the videos in the dark web.

Apparently, Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) learned from a student parent source, that more than 6 female students were secretly video recorded at the locker room by Bustos.

The CRJHS also released a 3-page parent and student letter on March 9, saying it would no longer hold a large parent and student public assembly at the school due to safety concerns and is not the appropriate course of action. But, the CRJHS will work with parents and students in a more private setting to discuss the pending Bustos case and other issues.

On March 10, Voces de la Frontera held a meeting for CRJSH students and their parents to discuss what occurred at the school and the lack of transparency by administrators and not informing the parents and students about what Bustos had engaged in until news sources began to report that Bustos was criminally charged for video recording underage female students semi-nude in the locker room.

On Ash Wednesday, March 5, multiple female students attending a school mass at 11:00 a.m. at the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School located at the 1800 block of W. National Ave., allegedly left in tears before the mass ended after Bustos's name was included in a prayer at the mass by a priest. Some of the student parents were posting in social media (Facebook) that the staff and administration at the CRJHS were inconsiderate to the victimized female students and in poor taste to allow for the priest to include Bustos's name in a prayer.

Bustos is a former Greenfield Police Officer who resigned in 2020 after several bottles of liquor worth $120 each went missing and not placed in inventory by Bustos who was one of the officers investigating a theft at a liquor store. Police body video camera footage from other officers at the scene showed Bustos handling the stolen bottles of liquor and placed them in his police squad car.

Bustos also made the Brady List of 191 law enforcement officers in Milwaukee County, which was released by TMJ4 News in conjunction with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the non-profit newsroom called Wisconsin Watch, the officers are listed for none credible, criminal and internal investigation issues.





No comments: