Andrew Farago Arrested, Recorded Guests With Hidden Camera, Police Say

Posted in: Comics, Fantagraphics | Tagged: Andrew Farago, Cartoon Art Museum, comics journal, san francisco

Andrew Farago Arrested, Recorded Guests With Hidden Camera, Police Say

Cartoon Art Museum curator and The Comics Journal obituary writer Andrew Farago arrested, according to Berkeley police, allegedly for recording his party guests in the bathroom.

Published Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:36:10 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Andrew Farago, longtime curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, has been arrested on multiple counts of invasion of privacy. According to Berkeley police reports reported by The Berkeley Scanner, Farago is accused of hiding his cellphone in the bathroom of his South Berkeley home during a birthday party he co-hosted on the 23rd of May. The Berkeley Scanner, which was concealed with a towel and deliberately positioned to record guests when they used the toilet. She confronted Andrew Farago, and it is claimed he said he deleted the footage. According to reports, video captured on the phone showed Farago himself setting up the hidden camera.

The recordings reportedly captured both adult guests and children. The report quotes Andrew Farago saying, "I hid my phone in our bathroom for the purpose of spying on our guests, my closest friends in the world. I had never done anything like that before and don't know what possessed me to do it. This was an inexcusable violation of your privacy and our friendship and I am prepared to face whatever consequences will come from this tremendous lapse in judgement." Farago allegedly sent this apology email to party guests after being confronted, according to court documents cited by The Berkeley Scanner.

Berkeley police obtained an arrest warrant and took Andrew Farago into custody at his home on the 3rd of June. Police officers seized approximately a dozen electronic devices and he currently faces twenty counts of invasion of privacy under California Penal Code 647.

Andrew Farago is a well-known pop culture historian and author of numerous books on comics and animation, including The Looney Tunes Treasury, the Harvey Award-winning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History, The Complete Peanuts Family Album, The Art of Harley Quinn, and Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties and The Definitive History of Batman. His next book, The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day will be published in October from Insight Editions.

In 2015, he received the Inkpot Award from San Diego Comic-Con, and recently he has also specialised in writing obituaries for The Comics Journal. He served as curator of the Cartoon Art Museum for over two decades before stepping down last month, and had curated more than 100 exhibitions. He is no longer listed as on staff on the museum website, but is on WebArchive from earlier in the year. No formal charges have been filed yet as the investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney's office continues. Farago has not issued any public statement beyond the apology email.

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