A California woman has admitted to using her ex-husband's Ring security cameras to remotely spy on him and his fiancée inside their San Diego home. Rayna Bell, 35, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of eavesdropping using an electronic device.
Prosecutors had originally charged Bell with three felony counts related to the alleged spying. The plea agreement resulted in a sentence of one day in custody, with credit for time served, one year of probation, and restitution to the victims, according to NBC San Diego. Bell allegedly livestreamed over 700 hours of footage from the home, capturing private medical and financial discussions, as well as family members in undressed states.
According to a civil lawsuit filed by the fiancée, Acacia Young, Bell and her ex-husband, Yantzy Villefranche, divorced in 2023 after nearly eight years of marriage. Villefranche subsequently moved in with Young, and the couple installed seven Ring cameras throughout their home, including two indoors.
Young stated she became suspicious after hearing a woman's voice emanating from one of the cameras, which she identified as Bell's. She later reviewed the Ring account and discovered more than a dozen saved clips containing Bell's voice. The lawsuit also indicated that account logs showed someone accessed one of the cameras for approximately 12 hours daily over a two-month period.
Bell initially denied the allegations, calling them a "smear campaign" in court filings before her guilty plea. Young expressed relief following Bell's admission, stating that it validated their efforts to prove what had occurred. The ordeal prompted Young's family to relocate and replace all of their Ring cameras.
"We tried so hard to try to restore the peace, the security, the privacy. Once you are robbed of that, it's almost impossible to try to restore that in your home," Young told NBC San Diego. She is currently pursuing a civil lawsuit against Bell.