The son of an Airbnb host has been sentenced to 3 years in jail for recording a visitor having a shower with a hidden digicam.
Kevin James Strutz, 52, was convicted on Nov. 27 of cyberstalking after he filmed an Airbnb visitor staying at his mom’s Ceres, California residence in 2020, which he shared. He then proceeded to make use of the video to blackmail her into sending him lewd movies.
Based on courtroom paperwork, the nameless sufferer, who identifies herself as an itinerant occupational therapist, noticed a textual content message on Strutz’s cellphone that he left within the lavatory, calling her “by accident horny” and suggesting he was considering her in an unprofessional and non-professional method. consent.
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After seeing the message, the lady was relocated by Airbnb, however rapidly started receiving threatening messages from Strutz on a number of social media accounts. Based on courtroom paperwork, he claimed he would launch a nude video of her to her contacts if she didn’t comply and ship him her X-marked movies.
“The messages grew to become more and more aggressive, and one included a picture of the sufferer rising from a bathe that was taken with out her information or consent on the Airbnb residence,” the Division of Justice mentioned in an announcement. “Strutz despatched her an image demanding that she ship him a sexually express video or he would ship the photograph to her family and friends.”
Strutz was arrested in 2020 and admitted to the FBI that he took the unlawful footage utilizing a cellphone digicam hidden in a toilet basket.
Airbnb has banned hosts from the platform and condemned Strutz to an area version, CBS Bay Space.
“We’ve got zero tolerance for reported habits and labored rapidly to assist the survivor after she introduced it to our consideration, together with banning the related host accounts from our platform at the moment,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement. “We’ve got been aiding the FBI of their investigation and hope that justice can be served appropriately.”
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Airbnb didn’t instantly reply Entrepreneur‘s request for remark.