Weeks ago, this news outlet reported on an Aiken, South Carolina man who was sued for allegedly secretly recording his Airbnb guests.
On Wednesday, Rhett Riviere, 67, was arrested and charged with voyeurism following a SLED investigation, which was requested by the Aiken Department of Public Safety.
According to the arrest warrants, Riviere secretly filmed a woman in the bedroom of an Airbnb on Third Avenue in Aiken, South Carolina while she was staying there in May 2019.
Riviere did this for the purpose of “arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of another person,” the warrant said.
According to the recently filed lawsuits, the two women stayed at an Airbnb known as the “Stirrup Cup Cottage” on Third Avenue in downtown Aiken, South Carolina in May 2019. They were in town for a tennis tournament.
The women paid for their stay using the Airbnb app. While they were there, the women did what typical Airbnb guests typically do — they used the showers, changed in the bedrooms, etc., the lawsuit said.
At no point did the Airbnb hosts ever alert them of any security cameras on the property, according to the lawsuit.
In September 2019, a SLED agent told the women that “there were secretly recorded videos” of them from their stay in Aiken at the cottage, according to the lawsuit.
Specifically, “the video recording device was on top of a dresser on the left side of the room positioned so as to capture the entire bed and almost the entire bedroom,” the lawsuit said.
Airbnb has a specific policy that prohibits any recording devices in bedrooms and bathrooms. The rental company also requires that guests disclose any cameras on properties with guests, even if the cameras are turned off.
“However, it does little, if anything, to enforce this policy,” the lawsuit claimed.
John Monk of the State newspaper first reported on the lawsuits.
Riviere was booked at the Aiken County on Wednesday. He was given a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, which he posted Thursday, according to online court records.
He faces up to three years behind bars for the voyeurism charge.
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