Comfort, TEXAS – *Editor’s Note: This article has new information as of Jan. 12, 2022 about an errant arrest that took place this month. This is a corrected version of the article that was originally published on Jan. 11, 2022 based on new information from the defendant’s attorney and the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.
A man accused of secretly taping guests at his Kendall County vacation rental home was arrested for a second time last month and charged with two more counts of invasive visual recording, according to the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.
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A Jay Allee, 54, was initially arrested on Nov. 20 and charged with four counts of invasive visual recording, a felony offense in the state of Texas. He was arrested a second time in December on additional charges of the same offense.
A previous version of this article stated that Allee was arrested for a third time this week in Kendall County, but a Kendall County Sheriff’s Office official acknowledged Wednesday that the third arrest was due to a clerical error. Previous warrants against Allee had not been properly cleared from the system.
The lead investigator in the case said Allee is now facing a total of 15 counts of invasive visual recording, and the investigation is ongoing.
“He was booked on eight warrants and seven more charges were filed in addition to those,” said Lt. Butch Matjeka.
According to the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, Allee operated a vacation rental cabin under the name of “Cielito Lindo” in Comfort.
According to the original arrest warrant affidavit, a couple who rented the home in July said they felt uncomfortable after an interaction with Allee when he came to the cabin to welcome them. The renter told investigators that Allee made comments that he felt were suggestive including, “Be comfortable, we don’t care if you are in your pj’s or nude,” the affidavit stated.
The renter said he “immediately had a feeling there may have been a hidden camera somewhere,” so he Googled how to find hidden cameras and looked around the cabin for anything odd. He found a device that looked like an AC/DC adapter facing the bed in the bedroom and noticed a reflection on the front and a blue blinking light on the side, the affidavit states.
The renter also found a padlock on a “secret door” that was made to look like the wall. They immediately packed up and left the cabin, but the renter said the camera was discovered after his wife had been undressed in the room after she had taken a shower.
Kendall County investigators executed a search warrant on the property and found the camera device. They also seized Allee’s laptops, a tablet and phones. Investigators found more than 2,100 thumbnail images from videos that showed men and women inside the cabin. Some images showed people partially undressed, nude or involved in sexual conduct, the affidavit stated. The thumbnails also showed Allee placing the hidden camera in different locations in the bedroom, investigators said.
Investigators determined that Allee had been secretly videotaping guests at the cabin for more than a year, KCSO said, and they asked guests to come forward so they could identify the victims who were recorded.