CEO of drone company arrested on suspicion of peeping on woman in bathroom, assaulting her

Robert Salonga

Bay Area News Group

(TNS)

MOUNTAIN VIEW — The chief executive of a company that makes underwater drones was arrested Monday after he was accused of peeping on a woman in a restaurant bathroom, then running off before he was tackled by bystanders hearing the reported victim’s cries for help, authorities said.

Eduardo Moreno, 35, was booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of peeping and robbery, with the latter booking offense based on an allegation he took the woman’s phone when she tried to take his picture, according to Mountain View police.

Police wrote in a news release that officers were called around 11:40 a.m. to a Panera Bread on El Monte Avenue after a woman reported that she was using the restroom at the eatery when she saw a man “stick his head underneath the stall to look at her inside the stall.” She reportedly screamed at the man, who then ran out of the building.

The woman chased and then confronted the man near El Camino Real, and when she tried to take his photo, “he grabbed her phone and pushed her to the ground,” police said. The man then ran south toward Marich Way, where he was reportedly seen taking his shirt off and jumping a fence. He then ran back toward the Panera Bread, where police said “he was tackled by a group of bystanders as responding patrol officers arrived.”

After he was detained, police said the woman identified Moreno, who was then arrested.

In their news release, police identified Moreno as “a Palo Alto-based tech CEO.” A search of Moreno’s LinkedIn page and the website of SeaDrone — a firm that makes submersible drones for inspecting ship hulls and other applications, including for the military — list him as the company’s chief executive. He also has a post-graduate degree from Stanford University, according to his LinkedIn.

The SeaDrone website only has a mailing address on its contact page, and a message left on an inquiry form was not immediately returned Tuesday. An attempt to reach Moreno on a listed phone number for SeaDrone was unsuccessful. The voice mailbox for the number was full Tuesday.

Moreno is out of custody, according to jail records, and charges have not been filed at this point. Detectives are exploring whether he did this before, and “are concerned that Moreno may have additional victims,” according to the news release. Anyone with information about the case can contact Mountain View police Detective Josh Gould at josh.gould@mountainview.gov.