An Indiana couple were ‘freaked out’ to find a hidden camera in the bedroom of their Florida Airbnb rental apartment.
Derek Starnes and his wife checked into a listing rented out by Wayne Natt, 56, at Cedars Court condo in Longboat Key, Florida.
They later noticed a black hole in the smoke detector in the master bedroom, and were extremely ‘distressed by this situation’, Starnes told ABC Action News.
When Starnes opened up the smoke detector, he found a camera and a microphone inside. There was another similar smoke detector in the living room.
Longboat Key Police Department
Natt is alleged to have placed secret cameras in false smoke detectors to film his guests and has since been arrested and charged with video voyeurism, police say.
Natt, who lives in the home when no guests are present, claims he uses the cameras to record his own private sex parties and that all individuals attending such parties gave their consent to be videotaped.
Longboat Key Police Lt. Robert Bourque:
We did have the opportunity to analyze what was on the SD card and there are a couple of different people on them.
Our question is, if people are aware the cameras are there, why are they hidden in smoke alarms?
And his answer was – for a better angle.
Who knows what it’s being used for, so it’s very concerning. I suspect there are other victims, it’s just a matter of identifying them or not.
An Airbnb representative, Benjamin Breit, said in a statement that the company was ‘outraged’ and had ‘permanently banned’ Natt.
It further explains their ‘zero-tolerance’ stance on voyeurism:
Our team has reached out to local law enforcement to aid them with their investigation of this egregious offense and we hope justice is served.
We take privacy issues extremely seriously and have a zero-tolerance policy against this behavior.
Natt has been released on bond.