Cameras pointed at their backyard – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

A South Florida woman’s neighbor has cameras pointed at her backyard. Police tell her there’s nothing she can do about it. Or is there? Let’s bring in Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser to find out.

It seems everyone has a camera. They’re great. Most of the time.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “We don’t want to be watched when I go out there in the morning with my coffee.”

Yvonne and Joshua’s problem started back in July when Yvonne went outside to watch TV on their porch.

Joshua Abreu: “I looked in my backyard, I saw a pole sticking out with a ring camera, right up in blue, recording Yvonne, that was sitting out there.”

Yvonne had her back to the camera and didn’t realize their neighbor had put up six cameras pointed at them.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “And these are 360 cameras that I, having Ring myself, you can zoom in, God knows how far away.”

Cameras attached to the top of the house. Two poking out of a chickee hut. This one on a 15-foot pole they saw their neighbor put up.

Joshua Abreu: “As soon as we came out, red lights started coming out, rotating, pointing directly at us.”

The cameras don’t move when Joshua or his son comes outside, but if a woman steps out, the light comes on, meaning someone is watching.

Joshua Abreu: “My fiancée, her friends, women in the backyard, all the cameras go directly to the women.”

Yvonne put up an umbrella to block some of the cameras. The neighbor brought out a ladder to see over it.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “And I looked over and it was him with his phone in his hand recording me, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’”

They snapped a picture of the man. When he saw that, he flipped them off.

Another day, another neighbor caught him trying to film the family. Joshua came out.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “I feel so violated. My privacy. I feel so freaked out. I feel like I’m always being watched.”

Yvonne got a temporary restraining order to stop the man, Allan Souza, from coming near her. But when she started sitting on the front porch, he came there.

Joshua Abreu: “I went out and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ And we recorded him and he walked away.”

The neighbor won’t talk to them. Police told her their hands were tied.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “I went to the State Attorney’s Office who told me the same thing, ‘Our hands are tied.’”

Joshua Abreu: “Right now we are talking, and I can guarantee you he is looking at us right now.”

Their backyard’s on camera. The blinds are drawn to block the cameras as they feel they live their life on camera.

Joshua Abreu: “Terrible, terrible.”

But can your neighbors point cameras into your backyard, Howard?

Howard Finkelstein: “You cannot point cameras at your neighbor’s bedroom or bathroom windows, but you can point them at your neighbor’s backyard. However, if you are doing it for the purpose of invading their privacy, you can be sued to bring the cameras down and get money for the invasion of your privacy, and standing on a ladder to look into their back yard is clearly invading their privacy.”

The next step? Yvonne saw her neighbor, Allan Souza, in court when she went there to make the temporary restraining order a permanent one. Souza was not happy about it.

Allan Souza (in court): “I’m going to file a malicious prosecution.”

The judge will rule on the permanent restraining order after a hearing in January.

Walking out of court, Souza couldn’t explain why he had the cameras pointed at Yvonne.

Allan Souza: “And I don’t even know that person. It’s all her boyfriend.”

Patrick Fraser: “I have seen pictures of you standing over their back fence. Why are you doing that?”

An hour later, things changed. Souza was arrested. Not for the cameras, but for violating the restraining order by standing in front of Yvonne’s front yard.

The next day, code enforcement told Souza that one camera was legal, but others had to have permits. If he didn’t get the permits, he had 30 days to take them down.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “That Mr. Souza told him some of those cameras were fake, just to aggravate us.”

In the meantime, Yvonne put up a big tent to block the camera as she feels better about her problems.

Yvonne Gonzalez: “Absolutely better, absolutely better. Just the presence of you in the courtroom with me, he realizes I may not be alone.”

And we will be following this one, Yvonne, to see if the cameraman stays away from you like the judge ordered.

Lights, camera, too much action for you? Feeling fenced in? Put us in the spotlight to focus on your problem.

With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.

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Reporter: Patrick Fraser at [email protected]
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