Florida man charged for vandalizing fake Flock camera that police set as bait
Police set a trap, then charged the man with 3 felonies.
A Flock surveillance camera in the parking lot of a Lowes store. By Bloomberg/Getty Images
- Oviedo police caught Evan Meyer cutting down a 3D-printed decoy made to look like a Flock camera.
- Meyer faces three felony charges, including attempted grand theft and criminal mischief over $1,000.
- The mayor said an officer printed and donated the decoys, so taxpayers paid nothing.
- Oviedo’s city council has instructed staff to prepare a resolution ending local Flock camera use.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
With a 3D printer and a lot of free time, a police department in Florida caught a Flock security camera vandal in the act. Now, he’s facing prison.
As Flock security cameras propagate, more people are taking matters into their own hands by dismantling them.
The situation has gotten so bad in certain states that police departments are also taking matters into their own hands by building fake Flock cameras.
The Oviedo police department caught 24-year-old Evan Meyer cutting down and smashing what he thought was a Flock surveillance camera. Instead, what he dismantled was a 3D-printed decoy.
A video of the arrest shows Meyer being taken into custody after cutting the “camera” with a pair of pruning shears, according to News 6.
The police chief in charge of the operation decided to set the trap in the same place that 2 Flock surveillance cameras were stolen between July and August.
Officers then waited, keeping a watchful eye on the 3D printed cameras to see if they could catch any suspects.
Now, Meyer is facing 3 felony charges: attempted larceny or grand theft, criminal mischief of property worth over $1,000, and property crimes involving computer equipment, according to the arrest document seen by 404 Media.
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Oviedo’s mayor, Megan Sladek, took to Facebook to express her horror at the situation, particularly at the possibility that the 3D decoy could have been bought with taxpayers’ money.
Sladek said the city manager confirmed that the City of Oviedo Police Department put up the fake Flock Camera and "then kept a close eye on it until someone came and cut it down."
"I do not know who paid for the decoy. As soon as I know more, I will share it with you. Transparency is so important," she said.
After the post received hundreds of comments, Sladek returned with two updates, including a statement from the police chief behind the operation.
Sladek said that vandalism is wrong and that the “police caught a person who engaged in destroying public property, and that’s what we hire them to do, adding that “they did their job.”
However, she also said that a majority of the city council voted in favor of ending Flock use in the area.
“City Council instructed staff to prepare a resolution to end the use of Flock in Oviedo,” Sladek said.
The second update clarified where the department obtained the 3D-printed fakes and whether the taxpayer paid for them.
“The chief approved the operation himself, and the cost of the cameras to taxpayers was $0, as a police officer printed them at home and donated them,” the city mayor claimed.
