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Comics journalist and curator Andrew Farago has been arrested for using a hidden camera to film friends and family who attended his recent 50th birthday party. According to police reports uncovered by Emilie Raguso of the Berkeley Scanner, Farago is under investigation for 20 counts of invasion of privacy by using a hidden camera to secretly record someone under clothing, and reportedly had sent an email admitting to the crimes, with authorities reportedly in possession of video showing Farago setting up the camera.

Farago is a prominent part of the San Francisco comics scene and the US comics industry overall. He has written about comics on several occasions, and has been a prominent freelance writer for both Fantagraphics' The Comics Journal and Publishers Weekly. He was also, up until this month, the curator of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum. He is also one of the few bestowed with Comic-Con International: San Diego's prestigious Inkpot Award, which comes with a lifetime pass to the convention.

Farago and his wife, cartoonist Shaenon K. Garrity, hosted a 50th birthday party for him on May 23 at their South Berkeley home, according to court papers obtained by the Berkeley Scanner's Emilie Raguso. The police report indicates that attendees were both adults and children. During this event, an unidentified woman alleges to have found a cellphone hidden in a bathroom inside the house. A Berkeley Police report says they obtained a video in which Farago appears to be "setting the phone up, concealing it with a towel, and aiming it to record people’s genitalia as they used the restroom."

In the police report, the woman says that she confronted Farago about her discovery during the party, and he "made admissions and also stated that he had deleted the videos." According to the woman, he also said he had set the recordings to be saved both on his hidden phone and backed up on cloud storage.

The police report further states that Farago later emailed some party guests expressing remorse, writing that "I hid my phone in our bathroom for the purpose of spying on our guests, my closest friends in the world. I had never done anything like that before and don’t know what possessed me to do it."

"This was an inexcusable violation of your privacy and our friendship and I am prepared to face whatever consequences will come from this tremendous lapse in judgement," reads the alleged email reported by the Berkeley police.

Farago was reportedly arrested on June 3 by local police under a warrant for 20 counts of invasion of privacy by using a hidden camera to secretly record someone under clothing. According to our reading of the California penal code for this crime, those convicted of a singular count of this could be punishable by a 1-year imprisonment in the county jail and/or a fine up to $2000. If any of the victims were a minor at the time of the filming, the fine could stretch to up to $10,000 per charge.

After Farago was arrested, police officers reportedly executed a search warrant on his home, seizing roughly 12 electronic devices. The police reports state they have recovered video from one of the devices showing Farago setting up the device in the bathroom, covering it with a towel, and positioning it to record guests while they were using the facilities. They have not stated if they gained access to Farago's cloud storage.

Following public knowledge of these incidents, Farago was "placed on administrative leave immediately after the situation became known" at his primary employer, the Cartoon Art Museum, according to a statement from executive director Summerlea Kasha to SFGate. A "further review and investigation" was undertaken by the organization, leading to his employment being terminated due to "breach of code of conduct."