Report: A's Employee Installed Secret Locker Room Camera To Spy On Players

According to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown, Oakland A’s strength and conditioning coach Michael Henriques installed a secret camera inside the A’s weight room in order to spy on players. Henriques apparently installed the camera on July 24, and a player discovered it the next day. Union rep Sean Doolittle reported it to the team, who then hired an independent law firm to carry out an investigation. The A’s suspended Henriques upon receiving the results of that investigation.

Billy Beane stressed that Henriques acted alone:

“This was the misguided action of one employee,” said Billy Beane, the A’s executive vice president of baseball operations. “We hired an independent investigator. While the employee’s intentions were good his judgment was very poor.”

Brown reports that Henriques fessed up and admitted that he installed the camera in order to observe players working out while rehabbing injuries. He apologized profusely and the only reason why he is still on staff is because the independent investigators ruled that he had no “malicious” intentions, beyond the obvious invasion of privacy.

Cameras in any sort of private areas represent such a breach of trust that, per Brown, one team with a theft problem requested permission to install a small camera in its clubhouse. Despite their legitimate case, they were not allowed to, as it would have violated the collective bargaining agreement.

[ Yahoo Sports]