A Nashville woman thought she’d met the man of her dreams. Then she checked his laptop

31-year-old Matthew Vollmer from Nashville, TN, was arrested last month, accused of videotaping himself with at least four sexual partners without their consent. The case could now change Tennessee law.

Vollmer’s explicit recordings were discovered when Christiana Werner, who had dated Vollmer for several months, found a file on Vollmer’s laptop with her name on it. Vollmer gave her the password to the computer, telling her he had nothing to hide. Vollmer was out of town at the time, so she opened the file and was shocked to see recordings of Vollmer and herself engaged in sex acts.

She later found a camera hidden inside Vollmer’s bedside alarm clock she didn’t know was there. And on Vollmer’s laptop, she also found recordings of three other women whom he had previously dated, filmed in sexually explicit situations.

Werner told Nashville’s News Channel 5 that, before the shocking discovery, the couple had considered marriage. She had a key to Vollmer’s apartment and had even met his parents.

“He absolutely swept me off my feet, ” Werner said. “He was a charming, sweet, sincere gentleman, and fun.”

“One of the most horrifying experiences of my life”

Werner contacted the police, who helped track down the three other women Vollmer taped. One of them, Laura Cantwell, was contacted out of the blue and told that a man she had dated for three weeks had made sex tapes without her knowing it. Cantwell called Vollmer outgoing and charming, and said he told her he worked in cybersecurity. The Vollmer revelation, she said, was “one of the most horrifying experiences of my life,” WSMV reported.

Cantwell added, “This man needs to be held accountable, both in the court of justice and in the court of public opinion. And it’s important to me that he knows I’m the one doing it to him.” Cantwell is suing Vollmer in a civil suit for $1.8 million, which she says she’ll split with the other victims if she wins.

Vollmer’s two other known victims, Emily Benavides and Erica Thomas, also spoke with WSMV. Benavides said she is using social media to possibly find other women who think Vollmer may have done the same thing to them. Multiple reports say Vollmer’s known victims are between the ages of 26 and 33.

Vollmer is facing misdemeanor charges

Vollmer is currently free on a $40,000 bond, and since there’s no evidence so far he disseminated the recordings, he’s only been charged with “unlawful photography,” a misdemeanor. The Vollmer investigation is ongoing, and if the evidence does emerge he shared the taped encounters, he could face felonies. Vollmer’s attorney said the tapes were made consensually.

At least some of the recordings were from beyond the statute of limitations in Tennessee for similar crimes, further complicating the matter. Now, Werner and the other women seek to extend the statute of limitations and toughen penalties for similar crimes in the state.

Werner told News Channel 5, recalling Vollmer’s laptop, “I saw a file with my name on it. I thought it was going to be love poems or pictures of us.” And once she opened the file, she added, “I’m just in shock …you recognized yourself. Him and me in intimate moments. I had no idea he recorded.”