Man accused of recording women without consent during sex faces accusers for first time

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The man charged with eight counts of unlawful photography for recording women without their consent during sex repeatedly pleaded the fifth when asked specific questions about a crime during a civil hearing earlier this month.

WSMV4 Investigates obtained video from the hearing on Dec. 4 in which Matthew Vollmer was forced to testify in a civil lawsuit filed by one of his accusers, Laura Cantwell.

Vollmer is accused of recording at least four women but his accusers tell WSMV4 Investigates there are thousands of other videos of women.

The hearing was called after Cantwell’s attorneys filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and injunction on Vollmer, asking that he be prevented from showing the videos of the women and to prevent him from hiding or dissipating assets.

“If you do this to somebody, you will be prosecuted criminally and you will be ruined financially,” said Daniel Horwitz, Cantell’s attorney, to WSMV4 Investigates.

Cantwell was the first to testify at the hearing, echoing what she first told WSMV4 Investigates, that upon learning the recordings had been made, she had to sit with two male detectives to watch the video.

“It was humiliating to say the least,” Cantwell testified.

Christiana Werner, Vollmer’s ex-girlfriend, testified that he asked her to house-sit for him while he was traveling in Europe.

Werner said Vollmer gave her the password to his desktop computer.

When accessing the computer, Werner said she found a file with her name on it, and when opening it, found videos of her having sex with Vollmer.

Werner testified she then went into Vollmer’s bedroom and tried to discover how he had recorded her and found an alarm clock with a hidden camera feature.

“I found several videos of us I’d never seen before. It was recorded without my consent or knowledge,” Werner said.

Werner also said that Vollmer had saved all of the videos to an online cloud system and had accessed the videos while in Europe.

Sarah Martin, Cantwell’s attorney, peppered Vollmer with several questions during the hearing about the alleged crimes. “You’re aware that police recovered sexually explicit videos of Laura Cantwell and other women from your property?” Martin asked.

“I plead the fifth as there’s an ongoing criminal investigation,” Vollmer said.

“You didn’t tell Miss Cantwell that you were recording your sexual activities together, did you?” Martin asked.

“Plead the fifth,” Vollmer said.

Cantwell’s attorneys argued that Vollmer is trying to diminish his assets, knowing that he’s being sued.

Vollmer confirmed that after police served a search warrant on his condo, he decided to sell it, but he said the sale had nothing to do with the potential criminal charges or the threat of a civil lawsuit.

Vollmer said he decided to sell after losing a roommate and not needing the condo’s four bedrooms.

Vollmer also testified that his father did give him a loan.

Cantwell’s attorney said Vollmer gave much of the proceeds from the sale of the condo, a quarter of a million dollars, to his father. “The first thing he did as soon as he sold that property was sent a quarter million dollars to his father. That is fraudulent, your honor,” Horwtiz argued.

But Jim Catalano, Vollmer’s attorney, said Vollmer has not paid his father anything yet.

“He has not sent funds to his father, that has not been proven in today’s hearing,” Catalano said.

The judge in the hearing ruled that the sale of the condo wasn’t a fraudulent transaction, but did order Vollmer not to show or share any of the recorded videos of the women with anyone. “I don’t think that’s a traumatic event I’m ever going to be able to forget,” Cantwell testified.

Vollmer is due in court Friday morning for his first appearance on the criminal charges.

If there’s something you want WSMV4 Investigates to know about this story or anything else, please email Jeremy.Finley@wsmv.com.

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