When this landlord installed a camera in his tenant’s room without her knowledge, he thought he was invincible. But when she discovered the camera, she didn’t hold back and planned a shocking revenge.
Nancy Dorson stood on the front porch of her new apartment in Walnut, Connecticut, feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension. This was her first place on her own after years of sharing spaces and living under others’ roofs. It was thrilling to think she was going to have all the space to herself. Sure, it wasn’t the cute house on a tree-filled property with a vast garden she had always dreamed of, but it was a start. The apartment wasn’t half bad at all. It was a quaint, antique-like place that would serve her well as a little home. She could picture herself building a life here, decorating the small space to her liking and finally having a place to call her own.
The only thing that her friends warned her against was the fact that her landlord lived next door. They all took turns sharing horror stories of what it was like having the landlord so close all the time. But Nancy brushed them off. She didn’t foresee it being an issue for her at all. She knew her rights as a tenant and was happy to enforce them if the need arose.
As she unpacked the last of her boxes, she remembered her brief but pleasant interactions with Mr. Hollard, her new landlord. He had seemed accommodating, even moving the rent date to coincide with her payday. Living next to someone like this hardly seemed like a bad thing, or so she thought. Everything had seemed perfect, but little did she know this new chapter of her life was about to take a dark turn.
It all started innocently enough. Nancy was almost settled in when there was a knock at the door. Confused, she walked to the door hesitantly to see who could possibly be visiting her so soon. Opening the door slowly, she found Mr. Hollard standing there, his big belly protruding through the doorway, as he asked if she was settling in okay. Nancy appreciated the check-in but felt a slight unease when he tried to step inside.
“Just checking everything is fine,” he said.
But Nancy stood firm, reminding him he couldn’t enter without notice. “Everything is great, Mr. Holland, but please don’t enter. I’m still unpacking, and the house is a mess. I know you just want to make sure I’m not making a mess,” she joked, “but you need to provide notice if you intend on checking anything inside. So if you wouldn’t mind not pushing through the door.”
She tried to deliver this in the sweetest way possible, but it proved fruitless because there was an immediate drastic change in the once sweet and thoughtful man. His friendly demeanor quickly shifted to anger, and he ranted about dealing with horrible tenants in the past.
“Who do you think you’re talking to like that? This is my property, not yours. Besides, I was just being friendly to see if I could help out in any way. But if you want to get defensive, that’s on you. I have had many horrible tenants in the past. I hope this isn’t going to be the same with you,” Mr. Holland lectured back at her.
Nancy was taken aback by his sudden outburst but did everything in her power to maintain her resolve. If there was one thing her mother taught her, it was to be strong in the face of a shouting man. However, she did feel very uncomfortable with the whole encounter. She simply responded with a polite thank you and closed the door.
Although he backed off for the moment, the incident left Nancy feeling unsettled. She tried to brush it off, telling herself it was just an overreaction on her part, but something niggled at her in a frustrating way. She had only just moved in and hadn’t even had the opportunity to celebrate. Instead, now she was filled with a horrible foreboding feeling. Should she listen to the feeling or ignore it? She wanted to try and live there as amicably as possible. Would that be possible?
Unfortunately, it didn’t take her long to be able to answer her own question. A few days later, Nancy heard the front door squeak open while she was in the kitchen. Her heart raced as she walked out. She was poised to attack her intruder with her wooden spoon in hand. She was horrified that someone was comfortable enough to break in during broad daylight. But she turned the corner from her kitchen into her lounge to find Mr. Hollard in her living room, claiming he smelled smoke and wanted to check for a fire. She was furious and told him how inappropriate it was for a grown man to enter a young woman’s apartment without permission.
Mr. Holland returned with feigned ignorance. He insisted that he meant no harm, only to look out for her well-being. He insisted that he could smell smoke from his place and wanted to make sure she was okay. Feeling uneasy, Nancy then queried why he hadn’t at least knocked first. At that, he said he had, and she had given him permission to enter. At this, Nancy once again felt sick. Was he really trying to gaslight her so severely? The old man was playing with her mind and clearly having a good time doing so.
Despite her anger, Nancy knew she needed a plan. Giving a 30-day notice and leaving was not an option. She couldn’t find a new place that quickly. Instead, she decided to document every interaction she had with Mr. Holland. If he insisted on overstepping her rights as a tenant, she was going to make sure that she made a note of it. She wrote down every encounter and started filming whenever he knocked on her door, determined to protect herself from further invasions. There was something off about this man. What she had once thought was an accommodating, sweet man was very quickly turning out to not be the case. Everything inside of her was screaming to protect herself.
Little did she realize to what extent this creepiness would go. One morning, Nancy was cleaning her apartment with jazz music playing through her earphones. Wiping down the walls was by far her least favorite cleaning chore to do, but it needed to be done. As she worked from the ceiling down, she was astounded at how bumpy the texture of the walls was. It was not ideal when trying to clean, but as she pulled the cloth down the wall, she felt it suddenly snag on something. Annoyed that she had maybe missed a nail or something, she pulled her cloth away from the wall. She knew that her landlord would be mad at her if she ruined even an inch of this prized property. However, she was surprised to see that the cloth had snagged on a small hole in the wall.
At first, it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. It was a tiny cutout in the wall, like the mark that might be left after removing a nail. It was probably just a bit of damage from the previous tenant. But something about the hole made her curious. She stuck her finger into it and felt that there was something definitely embedded deeply inside. She quickly grabbed her torch and shone it inside to see what was wedged inside, but nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to find.
As she looked closer, she felt bile rise in her throat. There, hidden discreetly, was a tiny camera. She sat on her sofa wrapped in a thick blanket, feeling utterly violated. Why on Earth was there a camera in her living room? What kind of sick person would have the gall to do something like this? Then the horrid thought of Mr. Holland crossed her mind. Sure enough, the wall the camera was embedded in was, in fact, the adjoining wall to his flat next door. The sick man had drilled a hole through his wall and installed the camera on her side so that he could watch her. That was the only feasible explanation she could come up with, and it made her truly sick to the stomach. The thought of Mr. Hollard watching her every move made her skin crawl.
Her initial instinct was to call 911 right away, but a small voice inside her head warned that it could end up being her word against his. He could easily remove the camera before the police arrived, leaving her without evidence. She needed to make sure that she could collect some sort of evidence to prove that the old man was guilty of spying on her without her knowledge or consent. Nancy knew she couldn’t do this on her own. She needed help.
She called her friend Jake, who wasn’t a computer wiz but knew enough to help her gather evidence. Knowing that the old man was watching her, she carried on with Jake as if nothing suspicious was going on. He came to the apartment under the guise of helping her clean and then watching movies. Meanwhile, he was able to identify the camera’s IP address, linking it directly to Mr. Hollard. She got him right where she needed him.
The fact that the old man’s crime was confirmed didn’t make her feel any better. Rather, it made her feel sick to her stomach. When it was just a suspicion, she had her doubts to fall back on, but now knowing that she was being watched by him pushed her over the edge. She was going to make this man very sorry.
With solid evidence in hand, Nancy finally felt ready to call the cops. When the police arrived, she explained her story, showed them where the camera was, and then the evidence that it was connected to her landlord’s computer next door. Immediately, the big, intimidating police officers knocked on Mr. Holland’s door. When he opened it, it seemed he had already suspected what they were there for. This only made him look even more guilty.
Mr. Holland denied everything, accusing her of causing problems and even presenting a contract that stated he could enter
without notice. Despite his sleazy tactics, Nancy remained strong. The police officers were clearly taking her side in this case. They took the supposed contract and asked Nancy about them. When she vehemently denied signing any sort of contract, the police officers bore down on Mr. Hollard even more. It was plain as day what was happening here. This old man was taking horrible advantage of this young lady, and they wouldn’t stand for it. They took Nancy’s statement and arrested Mr. Hollard based on what she showed them. He was then released on bail with a pending court date. This was exactly what she had hoped for. She wished to share the evidence she had on the man so that she could be left alone.
The weeks leading up to the court date were horribly torturous for Nancy. She felt nauseous every day, fearing the worst. She went over her evidence every day, practicing how she wanted to present it to the court. But the worst was yet to come. One day, she was sitting with a friend having tea when she said something shocking. She asked whether Nancy had checked for other cameras. Nancy was shocked to realize she hadn’t thought to check, mainly because she was so astounded by the one she had found. It never occurred to her that someone could be so depraved as to install multiple devices. She felt so stupid.
She and her friend immediately began scouring the house for other cameras. What she found was simply shocking. During her search of the rest of her apartment, they found three more cameras. This discovery further proved her landlord’s invasion of her privacy. They weren’t just in her living room but in her bedroom and bathroom too. This was truly horrific. How could an old man be so disgusting?
With Jake’s help, she got confirmation that the three cameras were also connected to Mr. Holland’s computer. She gladly added this to her pile of evidence. It was perfectly timed before her court date. When the day came, Nancy put on her game face, armed with all the evidence she needed and more. She waited patiently for her moment, her trusty laptop in hand. She was ready with an arsenal to take down the disgusting Mr. Hollard. If she had one goal, it was to get him convicted so that he could never do something so disgusting ever again to any young woman. It was clear that he was taking advantage of people in the worst way possible.
The judge seemed just as horrified to hear her charges for him. He gladly received the evidence that Nancy had compiled. As the video evidence played, showing Mr. Hollard entering her apartment without permission and the hidden cameras he had installed, the judge’s face grew stern. Nancy also pointed out the discrepancies in the contracts, showing how Mr. Hollard had tried to manipulate the situation in his favor. The old man denied any wrongdoing until the very end when he was faced with his deplorable actions captured on video. Then he tried to excuse his behavior, saying that he had only installed the camera to make sure that his tenant didn’t get up to no good, since he had had bad experiences in the past. However, the judge didn’t take his excuse into consideration and instead reminded him that landlords have no right to spy on their tenants regardless of their behavior. He had committed a crime fair and square.
The judge condemned the landlord’s actions, calling them depraved and inexcusable. The case ended with Mr. Hollard being sentenced to jail time and Nancy receiving a substantial settlement. The relief she felt was overwhelming. She had not only protected herself but also ensured that Mr. Hollard could no longer victimize others.
With the settlement, Nancy was able to make a down payment on a small home, complete with the garden she had always wanted. She spent her days planting flowers and vegetables, finding peace and solace in her little piece of heaven. The ordeal had been a nightmare, but it had also made her stronger and wiser. As she sat in her garden watching the sun set over her new home, Nancy felt a sense of satisfaction and empowerment. She had faced a terrible situation and came out the other side with her dignity intact. Her experience was a reminder of the importance of standing up for herself and the power of resilience in the face of adversity.
