HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — WARNING: Details in this article are disturbing.
An investigation that began with authorities charging a man with attempted indecent assault for sticking his private parts into food resulted in that same man being charged with several counts of possession of child pornography.
Othello Larenzo Holmes, 27, was working as a cook at Kulture, a downtown Houston restaurant, on April 5 when Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office investigators said a manager called them to report that Holmes had been caught on video performing lewd acts.
"The things that I have seen and the behavior that I have seen -- it is very disturbing," Constable Alan Rosen said. "When the restaurant found out about this behavior going on, they immediately shut down, to everybody, they had not served a single patron of the restaurant."
The video allegedly showed Holmes putting his private parts in open food items at the restaurant. When investigators asked him why he did it, Holmes told them he has "these urges frequently and has a history of sexual offenses, saying he has a problem with these sexual urges and needs help," court documents said.
"He should not be allowed anywhere near a restaurant," Rosen said.
Holmes, a lifelong Houstonian, was arrested and charged with attempted indecent assault that day.
Kulture sent KHOU 11 a statement that read, "We took immediate action by shutting down our establishment, cleaning the entire space, discarding all existing inventory, and contacting the Police to have the employee arrested immediately. Additionally, we worked with our security team to enhance our camera systems. These actions were implemented within one hour of the incident being brought to our attention, ensuring that the matter was addressed before the business opened again." Read the restaurant's full statement below.
On April 15, just over a week after Holmes was arrested, he allowed investigators to search his phone, according to court documents. Digital forensic analysts ended up finding more than 100 videos and photos of child pornography involving children between the ages of infancy to teens.
"We kept investigating this guy, and boy, I’m glad we did," Rosen said. "We found some really horrible things on his phone. We found child pornography and we are fearful that he potentially may have at some point molested young children."
According to records, Holmes is facing five counts of possession of child pornography.
"This individual is a predator," Rosen said.
Also found on Holmes' phone were videos of him fondling himself in front of a child and having sex with another person in front of the same child.
He appeared in court on Thursday, April 25, where officials said he lives with his amputee mother and is not currently employed. The allegations against him were read aloud and a judge set his bond at $100,000 for each charge.
Video of his court appearance is below:
Below is the full statement Kulture emailed to KHOU:
"Two weeks ago, we learned that one of our employees had engaged in an unacceptable act contrary to our code of conduct and outside of his employment he was involved in reprehensible illegal activities, of which we were not aware.
We took immediate action by shutting down our establishment, cleaning the entire space, discarding all existing inventory, and contacting the Police to have the employee arrested immediately. Additionally, we worked with our security team to enhance our camera systems. These actions were implemented within one hour of the incident being brought to our attention, ensuring that the matter was addressed before the business opened again.
The employee has been terminated, and we have taken all necessary steps to restore our normal services to the public. We strongly believe this is an isolated incident resulting from retaliatory measures due to a demotion. Most importantly, this dangerous pedophile is off the streets.
We are continuing to work with ourselves and our employees and law enforcement as this ongoing investigation unfolds."