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Boy Claims Weirdo Filmed Him in Bathroom

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) - A boy claims in court that a Costco sample-giver secretly filmed him and others in a store bathroom for sexual gratification.

G.G., a minor, sued Matthew Braniff, Club Demonstration Services and Costco Wholesale Corp. in Bernalillo District Court.

The boy claims Braniff is an employee of CDS, which Costco hired to perform samplings and demonstrations of its products in-store.

"Prior to the subject incident, defendant Braniff and his [male] 'partner' were having self-described 'intimacy issues,'" the 12-page complaint states. "In order to enhance his sex life and sexual fulfillment, and to the detriment of G.G. and other male patrons at Costco, on September 1, 2011, defendant Braniff repeatedly entered the public bathroom at Costco, while in uniform and during his regular work hours, with his camera, and intentionally, albeit secretly, videoed and still-photographed male patrons, and the male patrons' exposed genitals, while they urinated and defecated." Braniff sought to make a pornographic movie with the footage for his and his partners' sexual gratification, the complaint states.

"Minor plaintiff G.G. saw defendant Braniff peering around his urinal stall, with his video and still camera engaged, intentionally photographing minor G.G. urinating with his penis exposed," the complaint states. "Minor plaintiff G.G. immediately left the Costco bathroom and told his mother that a Costco employee was videotaping him urinating in the Costco bathroom."

G.G. claims that after his mother reported the incident, he saw Braniff in an office dedicated to CDS employees. He said Braniff "was deleting the various photographs and videos he had taken throughout the day in an attempt to hide his illegal activity."

G.G. claims the Costco store manager refused to investigate his complaint and tried to persuade his mother to leave the store and take no more action.

"[The plaintiff's] mother refused to leave, and called the police herself," the complaint states. "She waited nearly one hour for the police to arrive, during which time she and minor plaintiff G.G. were subjected to mockery, scorn, derision, laughter and ridicule."

Braniff was charged with sexual exploitation of a child, voyeurism and tampering with evidence, the complaint states.

G.G. claims that now he suffers from distrust of all men besides his father, fear of strangers, social anxiety and "plummeting school grades," among other things.

Costco did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

G.G. seeks actual and punitive damages for assault, privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, spoliation of evidence and unfair trade practices actions. He is represented by George Bleus in Albuquerque.

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