RUSKIN, Fla. — A Hillsborough County woman said the owners of her mobile home park forced her to take down her security cameras within seven days, claiming she was breaking the law.
But the ABC Action News I-Team has learned where and how you can use security cameras is not always clear in Florida.
“I had a camera right here,” said Joni Evans, who lives in the Captain’s Landing Mobile Home Park in Ruskin. “And there was another camera right here.”
Evans said she bought the cameras more than six years ago after someone burglarized her tool shed, painting a racial slur and cutting down her pride flag.
“It had my wife just thoroughly upset. It had me upset,” Evans said.
Evans made sure every inch of the outside of her mobile home was covered by video cameras.
“I had a total of 10 cameras,” she said.
Without cameras, Evans no longer feels safe
Now screw holes and circles of mismatched paint are the only remaining traces of her once-elaborate security system.
Her mobile home park sent a notice in April ordering her to remove the cameras within seven days.
“They just came out with the rules the 10th of this month. Prior to that, there has been no rules,” Evans said.
She took down her cameras rather than risk being evicted.
Evans, a disabled veteran, now lives alone after the recent death of her wife.
She said without cameras, she no longer feels safe.
"It’s caused a lot of stress. I’ve had an upset stomach ever since this has been going on,” she said.
On the notice, the park owners said they were requiring residents to take down cameras because recording audio and video violates Florida law.
Expectation of privacy
Attorney Jon Ellis said tenants’ rights in a private mobile home park like Evans’ differ from those tenants have in co-ops or communities governed by a homeowners association.
“In a private company that owns the park, they can set their own rules,” Ellis said.
But he said even though Florida is one of 16 two-party consent states, using a video camera that records audio isn’t automatically a violation.
“When you have a sign that specifically says heads up… we are recording audio, that starts to remove any type of expectation of privacy you may have,” Ellis said.
Evans said she has multiple signs warning visitors that she is recording audio and video.
And she said her cameras only pick up the voices of people in her yard.
The Florida law that regulates video cameras deals primarily with video voyeurism.
“What you can’t do in Florida is face the video camera in an area where someone has an expectation of privacy,” Ellis said.
Those areas include your neighbors' backyards or bedroom windows.
Evans believes she was targeted because she caught park management under her home and in her backyard without her permission.
“We’ve heard it’s a felony”
Don Babuka owns the park with his brother and sister.
“Somebody was recording with sound. And it’s against the law to record sound without consent,” Babuka said.
“We’ve heard that it’s a felony,” Babuka said but admits he never consulted an attorney about the law.
“If you say you’re recording it, arguably, then there’s no expectation of privacy. The person has the option to just not speak,” Ellis said.
In the letter to residents, the owners said they’re installing their own security system.
“We’ve put cameras with no sound,” Babuka said.
But two days after the deadline Evans was given to take her cameras down, signs were up, but there was no video camera at the park’s entrance and exit.
We found trail cameras near the dumpster and behind Evans’ home.
The park owners said they’ll allow residents to use video cameras as long as they mute the audio.
“You can mute the mics on the system,” Evans said.
But Babuka said he wouldn’t trust Evans to comply.
“I don’t think I would believe her because she’s vengeful and hateful and mean,” Babuka said.
If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
