Branch Manager Monitored Bathroom

photo of Rex Largent

A branch manager for a Houston-based mortgage company was fired after a television monitor displaying the only employee bathroom was accidentally discovered in his office. An employee of Mortgages Direct in Hobe Sound, Fla. reported that her three-year-old son had accidentally switched on a monitor in manager Rex Largent’s office that displayed a view of the only employee bathroom, according to official documents from the Martin County Sheriff. Armed with a search warrant, detectives discovered a camera mounted under the sink facing the toilet in the bathroom, a monitor on 51-year-old Largent’s desk next to his processing computer, and a transmitter box connected to monitor, according to the arrest affidavit. The sheriff’s office said that no videotapes were found and they do not believe he was taping anyone.

The part-time employee who filed the complaint said she was sitting in Largent’s office discussing a mortgage class she had attended and that she had taken her son with her. When the boy accidentally switched on a monitor located on Largent’s desk he had yelled at him not to touch it and then turned it off. The employee recognized the scene as that of the office bathroom. She stated she pretended not to notice what it was and continued with her conversation, but then left shortly thereafter.Largent was arrested without incident, the affidavit said, and had admitted that the equipment was purchased by him a year ago but stated that it was “just a toy” and the monitor was not in use when others used the bathroom.

An unidentified male who answered the phone at the branch office’s listed number confirmed to MortgageDaily.com that Largent had been fired but declined any further comment and immediately hung up.

A woman identified only as “Angela” at the Mortgages Direct corporate office located in Houston, Texas said Mortgages Direct is a private mortgage broker and the Hobe Sound branch office licenses loan officers for only Florida.

The human resource manager for the company’s corporate office told MortgageDaily.com that they were unaware of the incident and Largent’s subsequent arrest.

Martin County Sergeant Alvarez said Largent was released March 2 on a $500 bond.

The case loosely resembles a civil lawsuit filed last year against West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen Financial. In that voyeurism case, a co-worker was found guilty of secretly videotaping the private body parts of female employees with a hidden camera mounted under a desk and then selling pictures of them on the Internet.