Jury Orders Former Landlord To Pay Tenant For Spying On Her

DAVIE - (CSB4) - For secretly videotaping his former tenant, a landlord has been ordered to pay her more than $400,000. 

That landlord – Kenneth Ryals, an IRS agent – escaped criminal charges for hiding a small camera pointed at his tenant's bed in a Davie townhome, but his former tenant pursued her case in civil court and won, CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald reported Friday. 

A Broward jury agreed that the former tenant 27-year-old Miranda Goldston should receive $476,000 for invasion of privacy. 

``It felt like being raped,'' said Goldston's attorney Patricia Wallace told The Herald. ``What he did to her was extremely invasive, but she feels vindicated that a jury saw where she was coming from.'' 

The incident came to light on September 14, 2007, when Goldston found a hidden camera as she was preparing to move out of the townhome. 

She immediately called the police out of fear that she may have been spied on. When police arrived, they discovered that there had been a small hole in the front of the DVD player with a mini camera inside. 

Ryals explained to police that it was part of his surveillance equipment, and misdemeanor criminal charges against him were dropped, The Herald reported. 

Goldston said she pursued her civil case in hopes that it would prevent others from renting from him, Wallace said.

The Herald reported that a week after his arrest, Ryals continued to post on roommates.com that he had a room for rent available.

The Davie townhome has since been foreclosed.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)