news-press.com

A local lawyer representing a multi-generational family of 15 from Minnesota said the family has been told that all of them were recorded on video cameras that were recently discovered installed in a vacation home on Bayview Drive in Fort Myers Beach.

Attorney Scot Goldberg of Goldberg, Racila, D'Alessandro and Noone, said he was retained by the Minnesota family Tuesday after being contacted by them several weeks ago.

"They asked me 'what do we do?'," Goldberg said. "I told them first you have to find out if your family was on those videos. My understanding is that the entire family is on the videos."

Robert McDuffie Moore, 53, of Fort Myers, is now in jail accused of placing tiny video cameras in several homes in Lee County and capturing more than 4,000 videos of renters and others in various intimate and other activities.

According to a new arrest report detectives found thousands of deleted images and videos on video memory cards connected to pinhole-style cameras planted inside household items such as alarm clocks. The tiny cameras recorded adults and children at the rental home on 1910 Bayview Drive in Fort Myers Beach.

Goldberg said he was actively still getting information from the family, which consisted of grandparents, children and grandchildren, aged 70 to 3.

He said the Minnesota family had two main concerns -- that Moore be prosecuted and that the images recorded not get uploaded to the internet.

"There is still an unaccounted for laptop," Goldberg said. "They are praying that law enforcement finds it or that it has been destroyed."

In the report, Rhonda Rigsby, Moore's wife, told deputies her husband admitted to her he has "a sickness which he needs help for."

Moore, listed as property manager and co-owner of the Bayview property, was also quoted in the report telling another co-owner of the rental home, David Zager of Fort Myers, that he had an addiction and that the cameras and resulting videos were all his (Moore's) own fault.

The report also stated that the hidden cameras may have captured activities inside Moore's own home in Fort Myers, including "an unknown male juvenile in the 12 to 14 year age range was observed on video masturbating."

Moore is facing multiple charges of video voyeurism and child pornography. He was booked into the Lee County Jail shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday after his arrest Friday in Orange County.

Earlier report

The owners of a vacation rental property in Fort Myers Beach where cameras were found recording tenants in sometimes intimate relationships say they had no clue the man who sometimes handled maintenance was responsible.

Attorney Chris Brown, representing rental property owners David and Cathy Zager of Fort Myers, said his clients were blindsided when they found out about the cameras.

Brown said the Zagers had been involved in a casual partnership with Robert McDuffie Moore, 53, of Fort Myers. "He wasn't working for them," Brown said. "It was more like a cooperation. He was getting some of the profits."

Brown said Moore was supposed to be handling things like stopped-up toilets and other maintenance, but not as an employee.

Moore was arrested without incident Friday in Orange County and is being brought back to Lee County to face nine felony counts including seven counts of second-degree felony video voyeurism with juvenile victims; one count of third-degree felony video voyeurism with an adult victim; and one count of third-degree felony child pornography.

During an investigation into a report of cameras at the rental home, more than 4,000 video clips were recovered from memory cards. . Content included the victims changing clothes, having sexual relations, showering, sleeping and more.

Thirty-eight potential victims have been contacted. All victims live out of state.

READ: Port Charlotte man charged with video voyeurism of juveniles

The state attorney's office will review the case to determine if additional charges will be filed.

A call to the Lee County Sheriff's Office on March 25 reported a suspicious item found at a vacation residence at 1910 Bayview Drive, Fort Myers Beach, where Moore was caretaker

A renter of the vacation house told deputies an alarm clock-radio was discovered with a pinhole camera and an SD card.

The renters were suspicious that Moore would show up daily, often unannounced and while they were not present. He also asked where each occupant slept; locked himself in an upstairs bedroom at one point; and was moving the alarm clock-radio, they told deputies.

Several similar recording devices were found in the rental residence, and a delivery came to the rental address in Moore's name, which contained recording devices.

Further investigation found numerous SD cards in the Moore's vehicle and his home.

The video evidence recovered spanned slightly over a month, Feb. 22 to March 25.

Brown said the Zagers and Moore had been involved since 2008 in buying foreclosed properties for rehab and resale since 2008.

"He was a contractor," Brown said, and the Zagers would fund the projects. "It was never an official, legal partnership," he said.

Brown said the Zagers and Moore had partnered on the Fort Myers Beach property for about a year.

"My clients were not aware that he was coming in," he said. "Nobody ever called them to complain. (Mr. Zager) told me he just never got a vibe."

When they were told of the cameras Brown said the Zagers called everyone who had made a reservation and offered to return the deposit.

"They got no takers," he said. "They are trying to do everything they can to let the police get to the bottom of this."

Brown added that the property continues to be available for rent and in some respects is probably one of the safest in the area now.

"It has been swept twice, once by the police," he said.

Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter)