Lawsuit claims Columbia apartment maintenance worker rummaged through woman’s hamper, sniffed her underwear

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman sued a Columbia apartment complex on Monday after she claims a maintenance worker rummaged through her dirty clothes hamper and sniffed her underwear.

A “Jane Doe” filed the lawsuit in Boone County on Monday against Country Club Apartments and employee Juan Carlos Vazquez Martinez. The woman accuses the apartment and Vazquez Martinez of invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional stress and an additional count of negligent training against Country Club Apartments.

The petition in the case alleges that the woman moved into Country Club Apartments on June 1 and had to provide her own washing machine. She requested maintenance to look at it the next day to make sure it was properly installed, court documents say.

Vazquez Martinez allegedly spoke about unrelated topics with the woman for a few minutes after checking the washing machine, documents say.

The woman installed cameras on June 14 and called for a maintenance request for a water leak occurring from the washing machine, the petition says. Vazquez Martinez and another employee arrived the next day while the woman was not home.

Video allegedly caught Vazquez Martinez going to the woman’s closet, rummaging through a clothes hamper and then sniffing her underwear, court documents allege. Vazquez Martinez allegedly did this while the other employee was not in the room.

The woman shared the video with Country Club Apartments and the Columbia Police Department that same day and was told by the company that Vazquez Martinez was put on leave, court documents say. She then requested her locks to be changed.

A week later, the woman reached back out to the complex’s management and was told Vazquez Martinez was still on leave, but he was still on the property, court documents allege. The woman then saw Vazquez Martinez on the property multiple times through Aug. 12, the petition says.