Woman Finds Surveillance ‘Lair’ Hidden in Her Attic

In mid-February, 21-year-old Rachel Tribble was getting ready to go on a trip out of town when she discovered an extensive surveillance system with a "lair" tucked away in the attic of the house she was renting. She'd moved into the St. John's, Newfoundland home with a roommate in November 2016, after finding a rental company called Metro Property Management on Kijiji. At the time, she was only informed of a security system with outdoor cameras that were controlled by a panel on a wall inside the house—a system she was told was disabled.

But in February, Tribble and her boyfriend discovered something disturbing when they entered the attic of the house, which the rental company had previously told them was not able to be used by tenants since it was insulated.

"We ventured up to the attic, my boyfriend went up with my roommate, and he found the 'security system,'" Tribble told VICE. "My boyfriend said 'I can see you right now.'"

What they had stumbled upon was a surveillance monitoring "lair": a desk setup with subwoofer speakers and two big monitors—one of which was displaying nine images of different areas of the house. Tribble, her boyfriend, and her roommate then went around the house to look for the cameras that were feeding the system: They discovered multiple tiny cameras that they had previously dismissed as motion sensors in most rooms of the house, along with microphones, and a labelled, intricate wiring system built into the walls. Even more disturbingly, Tribble found the system was connected to ethernet cords—which meant that it's possible the whole thing was connected to the internet and streaming. Thoroughly freaked out, they called the police to report what they had found.

Police were also dumbfounded at the expansive network of cameras, microphones, and computer equipment and cords when they arrived, according to Tribble. She said she remembered one calling it a "cop-like system." They made a report, left, and Tribble and her roommate moved out of the house after they got back from a short trip out of town. Tribble moved in with her boyfriend, and her roommate had to find a new place to rent. As students, moving suddenly was not something they had anticipated just four months into a lease.

On March 1, they contacted police again about the situation; two days later, police went to the home and seized the surveillance equipment. Today, police are still investigating the surveillance system Tribble, her roommate, and her boyfriend stumbled upon. When contacted by VICE, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary provided the following statement via email:

"I can confirm that we did receive a complaint from residents of an address on Freshwater Road in St. John's regarding recording equipment being found, complaint received mid-February, 2017. The complainants were renting the home in question. This is an active investigation so there is no further information that we can provide at this time. Equipment was seized from the home as part of the investigation which is ongoing and there have been no charges laid at this time."

Though the house was being managed by Metro Property, it belongs to a man named Kevin Vokey. Vokey told CBC that the equipment belonged to him, that he used it for personal security when he lived in the house, and said, "The only ones who had access to it were whoever was in the house."

According to Steven Penney, an expert in privacy and criminal law who holds degrees from both University of Alberta and Harvard University, the owner of the house could be facing charges depending on the results of the investigation.

"If this is being done for voyeuristic reasons, if there are cameras set up in the bathroom or the bedroom… If you're taking photographs or video of people who are exposing their genital area and observing them for a sexual purpose, you could be committing an offence," Penney told VICE. "That's potentially a serious crime."

However, Penney said, there is another potential legal scenario that could very well come up in this situation: "Even if they don't have that voyeuristic or sexual aspect to the case, it's illegal in the criminal code to record private conversations without their consent. It constitutes a criminal offence." According to Penney, if audio was in fact being recorded, it doesn't matter what it was being used for or if it had any use at all: "It's simply illegal."

VICE reached out to Metro Property Management to get comment, but a representative for the company said that they will not being giving further comment until the police investigation has been completed. However, the company owner, Peter Curran, previously told CBC: "As a property management company, we do not own the home, we were not involved with the installation of the security system, and have no access to the security system in any way."

For Tribble, the discovery of the hidden surveillance system in the home she was renting for about four months has had a lasting impact on her life.

"It comes and it goes. Sometimes you don't sleep as comfortably at night… It's not just my life that has been affected: My parents are affected, my boyfriend is affected, his roommates are taking me on as well," Tribble said. "I didn't think something like that could happen."

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