He hid cameras to monitor his daughters. Texas police saw something else, warrant says

Gabriel Batzin told police he installed three hidden cameras in his Fort Worth home to keep tabs on babysitters and his wife's teenaged daughters, who might have been sneaking in boys, according to affidavits obtained this week by the Star-Telegram.

Batzin then used his cellphone to watch the videos, which included images of the teenaged girls scantily clad or naked.

The 44-year-old man, who operated a local business that installs cameras and security systems, was arrested earlier this month and charged with six counts of improper photography or visual recording. He remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $22,500 bail.

His wife found the cameras in November, while she was cleaning the house. Detectives later discovered the recordings contained naked videos of family members.

"I'm concerned with these false accusations," Stacey W. Mooring of Fort Worth, Batzin's lawyer, said Wednesday. "It's still an ongoing investigation."

Mooring also was concerned about an immigration hold on Batzin.

The warrants gave this account of the incident involving the cameras:

Batzin and his wife began living in their northwest Fort Worth home on Feb. 4, 2014, with the couple's 3-year-old daughter, his wife's sons, 8 and 10, and her 19-year-old and 20-year-old daughters. The 19-year-old moved out in early 2017 and her oldest daughter moved out in November.

On Nov. 6, Batzin's wife was cleaning the bathroom, which her older daughters had used, when she found a small dot in the ceiling. She got a knife, cut a bigger hole in the ceiling and pulled on a wire, discovering it was a camera.

She checked the bathroom in the master bedroom, found a similar hole in the ceiling and found another camera. She photographed the devices and texted her husband.

Batzin explained to his wife in a text that he had installed the cameras to keep tabs on babysitters and monitor the older girls because they could be having boys over in their rooms.

Batzin's wife called police.

Armed with search warrants, detectives collected three hidden cameras from the home, one in the daughters' bathroom, one in their bedroom and another in the bathroom in the master bedroom.

The camera in the couple's bathroom was installed May 17, 2017, and a recording showed him installing it. At one point, a naked Batzin with a cellphone walked into his bathroom and kept looking at his phone. He touched his chest as if he were making sure the angle of the camera would show a person's breasts, according to the warrant.

Other recordings showed members of his family scantily clad or naked.

In each one, family members did not appear to know they were being recorded, according to the warrants.

One video showed a woman lying down in bed under a blanket.

After detectives viewed the recordings, Batzin agreed to be interviewed. He told detectives he had installed six security cameras in and outside the house that were not hidden.

But Batzin told detectives he installed the three hidden cameras in May or June because he believed his wife was cheating on him, and she would use her daughter's room.

Batzin admitted he had no evidence that his wife had cheated on him.

Batzin has not lived at the family home in northwest Fort Worth since his wife called police in November, the warrants state.

An order was signed on Jan. 11 by Magistrate Rainey L. Webb for Batzin to be examined for mental illness and mental retardation.

Domingo Ramirez Jr.: 817-390-7763, @mingoramirezjr

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 9:58 AM with the headline "He hid cameras to monitor his daughters. Texas police saw something else, warrant says."