HOUSTON – Thirteen women have filed a lawsuit against multiple companies after allegedly contracting an incurable sexually transmitted disease from water bottles that were reportedly infected by a Houston janitor.
Houston law firm Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner hosted a news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the lawsuit and read some of the statements from some of the victims.
“The fact that a person took the privilege I had of kissing my babies good night the fact that I can’t no longer leave my water bottles anywhere or my cups at a party just like that because I don’t want no one to catch what I have because a monster decided to do what he did to me,” said attorney Kim Spurlock, who read one of the statements.
On Thursday, law firm partner Mo Aziz and attorney Morgan Mills, along with Kimberley Spurlock and Samantha Spencer of Spurlock & Associates, P.C. have filed an amended suit against multiple companies who were alleged to have “permitted and disregarded the janitor’s disturbing conduct.”
The $1 million lawsuit was initially filed on behalf of four women who worked in an east Houston office building where suspect Lucio Catarino Diaz, 50, was a janitor. In October 2022, he was charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, being his bodily fluids containing herpes simplex 1 virus, court documents allege.
The women, after allegedly coming in contact with water bottles infected by Diaz, tested positive for incurable sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes and hepatitis A, the lawsuit alleges. Since the lawsuit was initially filed, nine other women that worked in the building have come forward with the same allegations against Diaz and the same diagnoses, the lawsuit alleges.
According to a news release and court documents retrieved by KPRC 2, in late August 2022, there were “several instances” where the women noticed that the bottled water in their building was smelling and tasting foul, similar to that of urine. This prompted one of the women to purchase a hidden camera and place it on her desk since the office reportedly did not have any surveillance cameras.
According to investigators, the camera showed Diaz approach the victim’s desk, set his cleaning supplies down, and begin to rub his private parts on the water bottle that was on the desk. He then turned the water bottle upside down, put it back on the desk, and continued to clean, investigators said.
Court documents reveal the woman immediately contacted the police, who went to question Diaz. The firm said the woman sent a copy of the video to the building’s management company the next day and told them that she would be going to the building to notify the other tenants. In response, the lawsuit alleges that management asked her not to do that and assured her that they would handle the situation and notify the other tenants. Later that evening, the woman’s hidden camera captured Diaz doing the same thing, court documents said. It wasn’t until Oct. 3, 2022, six days after receiving the video, that the management company notified the tenants of the building, Aziz said.
“As far as we know nobody checked the surveillance, nobody checked the security footage and our client, the first victim that came forward with this took it upon herself,” Aziz said. “If she had not acted when she did, no telling how many more victims would have been affected and we still don’t know the scope of that.”
Aziz said there could be more victims out there that haven’t come forward yet.
Investigators said Diaz admitted that he committed the act 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.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office accepted charges against Diaz, which were filed on Oct. 13, 2022. He was taken into custody and is being held by immigration officials.
The defendants named in the civil suit include the owner of the building, the building’s management company, the maintenance company, and the cleaning company that employed Diaz.
KPRC 2 has reached out to the companies for comment and will provide more updates if we receive a response.