A mother and daughter were booked at the county jail last week on a relatively obscure charge — unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance.
Wendy Leighanne Stevens, 43, and Scarlett MacKenzie Stevens, 24, were released on a $1,000 property bond. Each is listed with the same Spurgeon Drive address.
The case dates back to a previous weekend, when a man noticed a small black box in his daughter’s diaper bag. The man, who shares custody of the child with Scarlett Stevens, then showed his mother, who called the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives ultimately concluded that the small black box was a recording device and traced the device back to Wendy and Scarlett Stevens.
Recording a conversation that you’re having with another person without the other person’s knowledge is not illegal in the state of Georgia, according to Det. Chris Burrell. Also, recording other people’s conversations in “a public place” is not illegal, although “a public place” can become fuzzy in legal cases.
However, recording other people’s conversations “in a private place” is definitely illegal.
“It shall be unlawful for any person in a clandestine manner intentionally to overhear, transmit, or record or attempt to overhear, transmit, or record the private conversation of another which shall originate in any private place,” according to the statute.
A “private place” is defined as “a place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.” In this instance, detectives concluded that the victim had “a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
The unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance statute is a felony in the state of Georgia.