A Florida firefighter has been arrested for allegedly setting up secret cameras inside air vents to watch his female roommate in her bedroom and bathroom, according to reports.
Steven Brandenberger, 38, who worked for the Orange County Fire Rescue and installs home theaters on the side, was busted Monday on charges of eavesdropping, illegal interception of oral communication and sex offense video voyeurism of a victim over 19 years of age, Click Orlando reported.
The victim had paid rent to live in Brandenberg’s home since 2013, according to a report obtained by the outlet.
She contacted the police after her friend asked to use her bathroom and found a camera in an air vent there, the outlet reported. By the time the victim went to check the camera, it had already been removed — but she found a drilled hole with several wires pushed into it, leading to the attic, authorities said.
She also discovered a microphone and a small camera that she disconnected and handed over to authorities for evidence, the local station reported.
Then the woman proceeded to check an air vent in her bathroom and found another small camera, which she covered in duct tape and waited until Brandenberger left for work to remove it, according to the station.
The victim told Brandenberger multiple times she felt like she was being watched and asked him if her room was bugged, which she said he denied, according to the report. The alleged victim also said there were times when Brandenberger knew details of intimate conversations she had in her bedroom.
She was especially concerned because her 3- and 14-year-old nieces had stayed with her in the past — showering and changing in the bathroom and sleeping in her room, the outlet reported.
The woman began packing her things to leave the house when Brandenberger and his mom — the homeowner — confronted her, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
She told them she’d found the cameras — which Brandenberger brushed off as “just sensors,” Deputy Kimberly Moore wrote in an affidavit obtained by the outlet.
His mother “believes the cameras were wired into the home’s security system that [Brandenberger] monitors, as the cords went up to the attic,” Moore wrote.
Brandenberger has worked for Orange County Fire Rescue since July 2006, the agency told the paper.
Spokeswoman Carrie Proudfit told the outlet the charges “are in direct contrast to the core mission and values of the Orange County Fire Rescue Department.”
“[An] administrative hearing will be scheduled to review the circumstances of his arrest and determine his immediate employment status with the Department,” she said.
Meanwhile, Brandenberger is being held without bail at the Seminole County Jail, the paper reported.
Bob Kealing, a public information officer with Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, told Newsweek the department is “also concerned she may not be the only one victimized.”
“The investigation is open and we are still going through evidence we’ve gathered,” Keating said.