HOUSTON – More charges have been filed against a janitor who told investigators that his “sickness” led him to commit reprehensible and unspeakable acts against employees at a doctor’s office along the East Freeway, leaving multiple employees with a lifelong incurable disease.
The acts in question were captured on spy cam installed by a suspicious woman who had a hunch that something was not right with the office’s water supply.
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Her gut feeling led to the arrest to Lucio Catarino Diaz, 50, who was charged in October with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The janitor was infected with herpes simplex 1 and passed the disease on to one woman after repeatedly urinating in her water bottle.
It turns out, she was not alone. On Nov. 16, two more charges of aggravated assault and aggravated assault of a deadly weapon were filed against Diaz after it was discovered that two more women also were infected with the same disease.
What happened?
Houston police said the disturbing occurrences happened at the doctor’s office, where the first victim was employed for 20 years.
According to court documents, there was a five-gallon water dispenser at the medical practice that was used by staff and others. It was the type of dispenser that had hot and cold settings and situated in a common area to be shared.
On Aug. 30, an employee dispensed water from it and noticed it had a funny taste and smell. The woman said, after noticing the water tasted sour, she dumped it out.
From then on, she no longer drank from the dispenser and brought her own water bottle to fill.
The next incident occurred in late September.
The woman said she left her personal bottle, which was half-filled with water, on her desk. When she went to drink the water a day or so later, she noticed it had the same type of funky taste and smell she encountered in the shared dispenser.
She dumped the water out and threw her personal bottle away.
Afterward, she purchased another bottle to bring to work.
One day, a co-worker offered to pour her some coffee in the bottle, but when she removed the cap, she noticed there was a yellowish liquid inside.
The women smelled it, and realized it was urine, Houston police said.
They took the bottle to the on-site physician, who ran a lab test on the liquid. Results confirmed it was, indeed, urine, according to court documents.
They shared their findings with another co-worker, who then remarked that she, too, had a similar strange occurrence of what they experienced.
Since the office did not have security cameras, the woman whose water bottle had been violated purchased a small camera from Amazon and attached it to her computer. Within a short period of time, the motion detector alerted there was movement near the camera.
The woman reviewed her independent surveillance set up, which showed a disgusting act.
According to investigators, cameras showed the janitor uncap the water bottle on the woman’s desk, unzip his pants, and place his private part inside the bottle.
After urinating inside the bottle, he recapped the water bottle and placed it back on the desk.
Footage showed him repeating the vile act twice over a few days.
The woman immediately contacted police, who went to question Diaz.
Investigators said, during questioning, Diaz admitted that he did it with malicious intent, according to documents. He allegedly told investigators that he had a “sickness” and did not know how many times he urinated in the workers’ drinking supply.
Blood and urine samples were obtained from Diaz and results indicated he tested positive for two sexually transmitted diseases. One of them, herpes, was incurable, documents state.
The victim also had lab work done and learned she had contracted the incurable disease. Doctors said it could have been transmitted to her after she came into direct contact with Diaz’s bodily fluids, which he placed in her personal property.
Doctors also said the disease can weaken the immune system and, in some cases, be life-threatening.
The District Attorney’s Office accepted charges, which were filed on Oct. 13, against Diaz. He was taken into custody and is being held by immigration officials.
After other workers were tested, it was learned that they, too, suffered the same outcome. More charges were filed against Diaz, who has remained in jail since being arrested in the first case.