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An au pair who was “horrified” after discovering that a fast-food tycoon had secretly recorded her in various stages of undress “hundreds of times” with a hidden camera in her bedroom has won $2.78 million in court.
According to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court, La Rosa Grill franchisee Michael Esposito, 35, hid a camera inside a smoke detector to record Kelly Andrade, a 25-year-old Colombian woman he had hired through a temp agency to care for his four young children.
In 2021, Esposito was arrested and charged with unlawful surveillance, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, but the Staten Island district attorney and a judge waived him the prison sentence in exchange for two years of probation and counseling, according to the lawsuit.
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Au pair Kelly Andrade discovered in her lawsuit that her boss, Michael Esposito, secretly recorded her behavior on hidden cameras “hundreds of times.” (Derek Smith Law Office)
Andrade told the New York Post she was upset that Esposito avoided prison time and that the compensation awarded to her by the court was insufficient after her ordeal.
“Considering what I’ve been through over the last three years, this is not enough. It’s not good enough,” she told the outlet through tears. “I was angry because the damage he’s done to me is irreparable.”
After hundreds of hours of training, Cultural Care Au Pair placed Andrade with Esposito in 2021. Esposito’s family had been living in her parents-in-law’s beach home in Tottenville, Staten Island, while they were renovating a $2.3 million mansion nearby.
The au pair said that soon after she was assigned to the home, she repeatedly witnessed Esposito tampering with the smoke detector in her bedroom, which she said was “constantly being moved around.”
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Kelly Andrade, 25, said she is “healing” after the shocking incident. (Derek Smith Law Offices)
Less than three weeks after moving in with the family, Andrade’s curiosity got the better of her and she checked the smoke detector, finding a camera inside and a memory card with “hundreds of recordings” of her “naked and getting dressed/undressed,” according to the lawsuit.
Andrade told The Post that Esposito returned to the home within minutes of being discovered.
“He seemed very nervous and very anxious when he got home,” she told the outlet.
Andrade told The Post that she pretended to be asleep in an attempt to get Esposito to leave, but went into “fight or flight mode” when Esposito banged on the door.
Her lawyer told the outlet that she jumped from a first-floor window of her home, injured her knee, and “slept in bushes on the street” that night.
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Michael Esposito was arrested on a felony charge of unlawful surveillance in 2021, but avoided jail time after completing a year of counseling. (Law Office of Derek Smith)
Esposito was arrested on March 24, 2021, after Andrade turned himself in to police. However, in April 2022, Esposito withdrew his felony plea and had the charge reduced to a misdemeanor of attempted unlawful surveillance after completing a year of counseling, the State Island District Attorney’s Office told the outlet.
“He did this and still gets to go home to his mansion with his wife and kids, while (Andrade) sleeps on the street,” Andrade’s lawyer, Zach Holtzberg, told the Post. “(Esposito) got no punishment…(he) got probation…it’s a light punishment.”
On Sept. 12, a jury awarded Esposito $2 million in damages to Andrade, in addition to the $780,000 that Esposito and his wife must pay Andrade for emotional distress, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
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Andrade, who now lives in New Jersey with her husband of two years, said it “wasn’t easy” to stand in court with Esposito, who never took the stand during the four-week civil trial.
“It’s been a very difficult time for me,” she said. “It’s brought back memories that I try to forget.”
Andrade said she spoke out “to encourage the many au pairs and immigrants who are victims of abuse.”
“Don’t stay silent,” she told the Post. “Don’t be afraid to report your abuser.”
Fox News Digital was unable to reach Holtzberg or Esposito’s lawyers at time of publication.
