An Indiana couple staying at an Airbnb in Longboat Key, Florida recently stumbled upon every guest's worst nightmare.
According to WFTS, Derek Starnes and his wife uncovered a hidden camera inside of a smoke detector on the bedroom ceiling. Starnes, who works in tech, made the discovery after noticing a black hole on the side of the device.
Starnes immediately called the police, who arrested the homeowner, 56-year-old Wayne Natt. He has been charged with one count of video voyeurism.
Longboat Key Police Lt. Robert Bourque said Natt's Airbnb account has been active for at least two years and his rental has been reviewed on the website more than 40 times.
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"My wife and I are distressed by this situation. I hope more victims will come forward," Starnes told WFTS. He said he knows the camera recorded him walking through the bedroom naked at one point.
Authorities are now in the process of tracking down potential victims.
"We seized a lot of computer storage data devices, hard drives, computers, laptops, SD cards, anything that would store data," Bourque told WFTS. "We don't know if there are local victims someone who may have been dating him or a companion that doesn't realize they are being videotaped, and then we have the other side of who he rented to through Airbnb."
Natt told police that everyone was aware they were being recorded and said the camera was hidden in the smoke detector to give him a better angle. He also admitted that there are dozens of videos of sex parties he's hosted at the home.
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Airbnb condemned the incident and confirmed Natt has been banned from the platform.
"We are outraged at the reports of what happened; as soon as we were made aware, we permanently banned this individual from our community and fully supported the affected guests," Airbnb representative Ben Breit said in a statement to WFTS. "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."
The troubling story is another setback for Airbnb in its ongoing efforts to win over travelers who may be more comfortable staying at a traditional hotel. This past summer, a video emerged of an Airbnb host in Amsterdam pushing a guest down a flight of stairs for checking out late.
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