The son of an Airbnb host was sentenced to 3 years in jail for filming a visitor getting out of the bathe with a hidden digital camera.
Kevin James Strutz, 52, was sentenced on November 27 for cyberstalking after he filmed an Airbnb visitor staying at his mom’s Ceres, California residence in 2020, which he additionally shared. He then proceeded to make use of the footage to blackmail her into sending him lewd movies.
Based on court docket paperwork, the nameless sufferer, who’s listed as a touring occupational therapist, noticed a textual content message on Strutz’s cellphone that he had left within the lavatory, calling her “unintentionally attractive” and suggesting that he was excited about her in an unprofessional and nonconsensual method.
Associated: Lawsuit: Airbnb Friends Allege Dwelling Was Infested By Bats
Upon seeing the message, the girl was relocated by Airbnb however rapidly started receiving threatening messages from Strutz on a number of social media accounts. Based on court docket paperwork, he claimed he would launch the nude footage of her to her contacts if she didn’t comply and ship him X-rated movies of herself.
“The messages grew to become more and more aggressive, and one included a picture of the sufferer exiting a bathe that had been taken with out her data or consent on the Airbnb residence,” the Division of Justice mentioned in an announcement. “Strutz despatched the picture to her with a requirement that she ship him a sexually express video or he would ship the picture to her family and friends.”
Strutz was arrested in 2020 and admitted to the FBI that he had recorded the unlawful footage through the use of a cellphone digital camera he had hidden in a basket within the lavatory.
Airbnb banned the hosts from the platform and condemned Strutz to the native outlet, CBS Bay Space.
“We have now no tolerance for the reported habits and labored rapidly to assist the survivor as soon as she introduced it to our consideration, together with banning the related host accounts from our platform on the time,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement. “We assisted the FBI of their investigation and hope justice is appropriately served.”
Associated: Bachelorette Occasion in Airbnb Finds Hidden Door, ‘Surveillance Digital camera’
Airbnb didn’t instantly reply to Entrepreneur‘s request for remark.
