A video captured by three teenage girls shows the moment they awoke to find a stranger standing near the foot of their beds in the cabin where they were staying during a father-daughter ranch retreat.
The teenagers and their fathers, from South Florida, were staying at the Circle F Dude Ranch in Lake Wales, Florida, when the incident occurred. According to WPLG’s Local10, the girls and their fathers were at the camp to participate in a father-daughter bonding programme called Indian Princess.
However, in a video shared by the outlet, it shows the moment that one of the teens began recording on her phone, after one of the girls woke up to find a stranger in a hoodie standing over her in the middle of the night.
In the clip, the teens could be heard whispering to one another, while one of the girls called her father, who was staying in a cabin on the other side of the camp, according to the outlet.
The video, which was filmed at 4am, also showed the moment the man appeared to get up from the floor, where he had been hiding under the bed, prompting one of the girls to gasp in fear.
“I’m so scared. My hands are shaking,” one of the teens could be heard saying at one point during the clip, before her father asked over the phone whether the front door to the cabin was unlocked.
The man, who was later identified as 25-year-old camp employee Raul Mora-Yanez, then left the cabin, at which point the teens could be heard encouraging their fathers to hurry.
“Dad. Dad. He just left!” one of the girls told her father over the phone, while another said: “Tell him to run. Tell him to run! Oh my god, he’s wearing a hoodie. He’s wearing a black hoodie with an alien on the back.”
The video helped authorities identify Mora-Yanez, who was charged with unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling, according to Polk County police records. He was released on a $25,000 bond on 7 November, a day after his arrest, records show.
According to Local10, Mora-Yanez told authorities that he had been drinking and had gone for a walk when he entered the cabin, which he said he thought was empty.
The former camp employee also claimed that the door to the cabin had been unlocked. However, deputies said it was not, and that Mora-Yanez had had a key that would have allowed him to enter the locked cabin.
“It’s concerning, it’s frightening, it’s disturbing,” the teens’ families’ attorney Eric Schwartzreich told the outlet. “They have been emotionally traumatised.”
Schwartzreich also said the families are concerned about the contents of Mora-Yanez’s phone, as one of the girls claimed the ranch employee was holding his phone when he entered their cabin. According to Schwartzreich, authorities should have applied for a search warrant to view the contents of the phone. However, Mora-Yanez was given his phone back when he was released from jail, Local10 reports.
The ranch told the outlet that Mora-Yanez is a former camper, and that it is “upset and disappointed” by the incident, while a spokesperson for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office told Local10 that the investigation is still open.
In a separate statement, Mora-Yanez’s attorney, Brett Schwartz, told Local10 that the 25 year old “is a good kid who has been affiliated with the Circle F Ranch since 2009 as a camper or staff counselor”.
“As a father myself, I understand the parents’ anxiety. However, like the allegations, it is based solely on presumptions, not facts. In a court of law, the latter is what matters,” the attorney added.
Mora-Yanez, who has no prior criminal history, is scheduled to appear in court on 13 December, according to the DailyMail.
The Independent has contacted Circle F Dude Ranch and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
