Storm Lake man charged in secret bathroom recordings of minors

A Storm Lake man now faces felony charges after investigators said he secretly recorded minors in a private bathroom inside the home where he lived. Hector Alonzo Hernandez, 23, was booked into the Buena Vista County Jail on June 3 and has since entered a not guilty plea, according to online court records.

The Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office says Hernandez used a phone to record at least two minors and another person while they were nude. Investigators say the videos and screenshots were made in April, then assembled into the case that led to the arrest last week. Hernandez is charged with two Class B felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three aggravated misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.

Hernandez’s bond was set at $10,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, in Buena Vista County District Court, where a judge will begin reviewing whether the state has enough evidence to move the prosecution ahead.

The case is being handled in Iowa’s district court system, where nearly all criminal cases begin. Buena Vista County falls within Judicial District 3, which also includes Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Kossuth, Lyon, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury counties. In northwest Iowa, district court matters are heard through that system even as local law enforcement and county prosecutors handle the investigation and charging decisions.

The charges carry more than immediate jail exposure. Under Iowa law, a violation of Iowa Code section 709.21 is a Tier II sex offense that requires 10 years of sex-offender registration. If an invasion-of-privacy offense involving nudity is committed against a person under 13, it is reclassified as Tier III and requires lifetime registration.

Child-abuse cases in this region often bring in more than one agency. UnityPoint Health’s St. Luke’s Child Advocacy Center in Sioux City says its multidisciplinary team works with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and law enforcement in child-abuse investigations. In a county of 20,823 people, with Storm Lake’s population at 11,269 in the 2020 Census, cases involving minors can move quickly through a close-knit community and into the courthouse in Sioux City.

Buena Vista County has already seen other serious sex-abuse prosecutions in recent months, including the December 2025 conviction and March 2026 sentencing of Cristobal Del Angel Sr. to a term not to exceed 92 years. Hernandez’s case now joins that recent run of high-stakes criminal proceedings as it heads toward the next court step.