A harassment complaint called in at 12:02 p.m. on Oct. 16 to a Stonehedge Drive home in Wilton has led to a felony charge against a 58-year-old man accused of secretly recording someone in a bedroom for nearly three months. Darren A. Home, who lives in Wilton, was arrested after investigators looked into the complaint and now faces a charge of second-degree unlawful surveillance.
According to WNYT, the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office received the complaint that set the investigation in motion and traced it to the Stonehedge Drive address. Investigators allege Home intentionally installed an imaging device to secretly view, broadcast or record a person in a bedroom without that person’s knowledge or consent and for no legitimate purpose, the station reported.
Months-Long Timeline Alleged by Investigators
The sheriff’s office said its investigation found that the alleged conduct occurred between July 14 and Oct. 8 at the Stonehedge Drive residence, meaning the device was allegedly in place for roughly three months before the complaint that triggered Home’s arrest. The station’s report does not specify how the device was discovered or who found it.
Home was arraigned before Judge David R. Towne in Wilton Town Court and released on his own recognizance pending further proceedings, per the same account. The case remains in its early stages, and no additional court dates or outcomes have been reported.
A Pattern Playing Out Statewide
Home’s arrest comes the same month as a similar case roughly 200 miles west, where a Rochester Institute of Technology student was arrested after a hidden recording device was found in a restroom in a campus residence hall, as reported by syracuse.com. Investigators there determined the device had been set up on the evening of Sept. 16, and with help from RIT Public Safety, they identified 19-year-old Avery E. Bird of Gloucester, Massachusetts, as a suspect.
Bird was arrested on Oct. 20 and charged with second-degree unlawful surveillance, the same Class E felony count Home now faces, according to syracuse.com. That investigation remained ongoing as authorities worked to identify all of the victims. The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office said Bird was arraigned and released on his own recognizance, with his next court appearance scheduled for Oct. 27, according to rochesterfirst.com.
Why Hidden Cameras Are Getting Harder to Spot
Attorney Anna Mercado Clark, discussing the RIT case with rochesterfirst.com, said advances in technology have made these devices increasingly difficult to detect. Cameras are much smaller, they’re much easier to hide, Clark said. They have longer battery lives, she added, along with the capability for longer-distance broadcasting, a trend that experts say is making unlawful surveillance cases more common and harder to catch before damage is done.
Neither case has yet reached a resolution, and key details — including how either device was first discovered and whether charges will be amended — remain unaddressed in the public record so far. Both Home and Bird are due back in their respective courts as the investigations continue.
