A Massachusetts restaurant owner who faced a judge Friday after allegedly secretly videotaping people using his restaurant's restroom for more than three years was previously charged with sexually assaulting a minor last month, according to authorities.
Sixty-three-year-old Tze Chung was ordered to be held on $7,500 cash bail during his arraignment, where he was allowed to remain hidden from media cameras, on charges stemming from the secret video recordings of people in the restroom of Ta'am Chinese Restaurant.
Prosecutors revealed in court that Chung was already out on $100,000 bail in a pending child sexual assault case in Middlesex County.
Photos of the young victim in her bathroom were allegedly found on Chung's electronic devices, and when Weston police checked his iPad and iPhone in connection with the child sex abuse case, they allegedly found additional bathroom photos from his restaurant, recognizing the tile. Weston investigators then alerted police in Brookline.
The hundreds of discovered photos showed women in "various states of undress using the toliet" and involved multiple cameras at different angles, according to prosecutors. One of the women most frequently photographed was Chung's ex-girlfriend, who had been an employee at the restaurant for eight years, investigators said.
In addition to his $7,500 cash bail, a judge ruled Chung must wear a GPS monitoring bracelet and surrender his passport. It's unclear if he has an attorney in this case.
Chung's sister, Connie Chung, told NBC10 Boston on Thursday after his arrest that she didn't believe the charges were true.
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"This is a surprise to me, this is really a surprise," she said. "He is a good guy, I don't believe whatever he did."
She refused to speak with NBC10 Boston outside of court Friday.
Outside the restaurant, customers said they were shocked.
"Oh, it's just sickening and gross that people do these kinds of things," Pam Fleetman said.
Chung's employees were also surprised to hear about the news of his arrest on Thursday.
"He would never do something bad to anybody. He is a very honest person," Ruth Dinerman said. "I think it is just someone who didn't like the food who or somebody who wanted to get back at the establishment."
Investigators are asking the public for help identifying victims. Customers who ate at the restaurant on the following dates should contact them at 617-730-2243:
- May 27, 2015
- June 10, 2016
- Sept. 18, 2016
- Sept. 22, 2016
- Sept. 23, 2016
- Oct. 9, 2016
- Nov. 1, 2016
- Dec. 1, 2016
- Dec. 30, 2016
- Jan. 10, 2017
- Jan. 23, 2017
- Feb. 6, 2017
- May 14, 2017
- May 25, 2017
- July 12, 2017
- July 18, 2017
- Jan. 10, 2018
- Jan. 25, 2018
- Feb. 12, 2018
- Feb. 15, 2018
