Rochester man accused of stalking woman with cameras and tracking device

A Rochester man was arrested recently after he allegedly placed cameras near a home and installed a tracking device on a vehicle to stalk a woman. 

According to a probable cause affidavit, a report was made to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office on March 10, about a woman being stalked in Rochester. Officers responding to the call spoke with the woman and her sister, who reported there had been a trail camera found nearby that as pointing toward the woman's home. 

Prior to finding the trail cam, the woman stated she had received several voicemails from Hector Fernandez III, 41, of Rochester. The woman told police she had been in a former sexual relationship with Fernandez and has not spoken to him for over a month. 

The woman claimed she also received several text messages that included photos of her home and believed it was Fernandez who sent them. After further investigating, it was believed Fernandez allegedly used multiple “burner phones” to send the voicemails and text messages. The messages gave the woman play-by-play comments about her daily activities and what her children were doing outside. 

On March 13, police were called again about a report of an additional trail cam being found near the property that had been heavily camouflaged and plugged in to an outlet so it would be continuously charged. 

Police reviewed the cameras and discovered the cam name had been nicknamed after the victim. 

An additional report was made on March 20, regarding the woman discovering a tracking device on her vehicle. The GPS tracker had been located under the vehicle near the exhaust and spare tire. The tracker was magnetic, but also had a piece of tape over it to secure it in place. 

On March 25, police reviewed Fernandez's phone for footage on the hidden cameras and located approximately four different camera angles that pointed to the victim's home. The photos and videos included footage of vehicles and people at the woman's residence and included footage of officers responding to the victim's stalking report. 

When releasing the phone back to Fernandez on March 30, he was questioned about the hidden cameras. Fernandez told officers the woman was aware of the cameras prior to police being involved. The woman, however, denied ever consenting to cameras being pointed at her home. 

On April 29, officers discovered Fernandez had been the purchaser of the GPS tracker found on the woman's vehicle and had been used near Fernandez's home before it was placed on the woman's vehicle. 

Fernandez was arrested May, on charges of stalking, a Level 6 Felony; and unlawful surveillance tracking device, a class A misdemeanor.

Fernandez has since been released on bond. A no contact order for Fernandez and the woman was issued on May 12. Fernandez has a pretrial conference scheduled for June 15.