SC law enforcement charge Aiken Airbnb operator after hidden camera found in home
A 67-year-old operator of two Airbnb’s in Aiken County was arrested Wednesday by State Law Enforcement Division agents on a voyeurism charge.
Three lawsuits filed earlier against the Airbnb operator, Rhett Riviere, allege he had spy cameras in the Airbnb bedrooms.
A conviction of first offense voyeurism carries up to three years in prison and a maximum $500 fine.
Under the statute, “voyeurism” is defined as an act when someone spies on or videos another person “without that person’s knowledge and consent, while the person is in a place where he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
A SLED statement said the investigation was requested by the Aiken Department of Public Safety, and Riviere was booked at the Aiken County Detention Center. The case will be prosecuted by the Second Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
A warrant provided by SLED said, between May 17, 2019, and May 18, 2019, Riviere “knowingly video recorded or filmed another person” without the victim’s knowledge or consent while the victim was in a bedroom of the rental house.
“This act was done for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person,” the warrant said.
Last month, The The State reported that three women who stayed in Riviere’s Airbnb’s had separately sued him in civil court for invasion of privacy and other charges. The allegations took place at three different times.
Those civil cases grew out of a SLED investigation in which SLED, by means that agency has not disclosed, came into possession of secret videos made at the Airbnbs and showed to the women.
The women confirmed to SLED agents that they were the people in the videos, and they did not know they were being videoed. Based on their viewing of the videos, the women then sued Riviere.
The lawsuits allege that no cameras were visible in the bedrooms.
“Plaintiff and her friends did not consent to being recorded in any manner and were unaware that a video camera was located on the property,” one recently-filed lawsuit in Aiken County state court alleges.
In early May, Riviere told a reporter with The State that the allegations were a “miscommunication” and the cameras weren’t meant to spy.
Riviere said the camera system was for security, not for surveillance before telling a reporter he was late for a meeting and drove off.
Two Airbnbs operated by Riviere are the subjects of the lawsuits.
One Airbnb, sold last year to a new owner, was a one-story cottage with a front porch looking out on Third Avenue in Aiken, according to two of the three lawsuits. The other Airbnb was on a farm in the Aiken area, but the lawsuit doesn’t give a precise address. The alleged events took place in 2019, the lawsuits said.
One woman’s lawsuit said she has been “extremely upset about being secretly recorded and is concerned nude images and videos of her undressing may have been shared and/or could make their way on to the Internet.”
This story will be updated.
