Jails across America have been moving to replace in-person visits with video calls in recent years, a trend only set to continue with safety now at the forefront of most people’s minds.
But while those often costly calls provide a vital connection with the outside world, they also capture for posterity intimate encounters with potential consequences for disturbingly unrestrained participants.
A Florida mom may now join her jailed boyfriend on the wrong side of the bars after forgetting – or worse, not caring – that her 6-year-old boy was still in the room as she masturbated during one such “virtual visit” in late March.
Noelle Rascati, 32, faces charges for lewd and lascivious conduct in the presence of a minor, after a prison reviewer checked the visitation videos of her 26-year-old boyfriend Tathan Fields, an inmate at the Santa Rosa County Jail.
A video call between the two on March 25 allegedly “became extremely sexual,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
In the 12-minute video, Rascati masturbates with sex toys in the bedroom of her Clermont home, while Fields, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, plays with himself “in what appears to be a jail pod.”
Alarmingly, a 6-year-old boy is seen standing next to Rascati’s bed at the start of the footage. The child continues to walk around and talk in the background for the duration of the call.
The boy also had a view of Rascati’s computer screen, which “displayed the view of Mr. Fields masturbating,” according to police.
The boy’s relationship to Rascati is redacted in the court documents, although he is is thought to be her son.
Rascati was arrested in Clermont on April 22 and later released from the Lake County Jail after posting $2,000 bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for May 18.
Although Field has not been charged in connection with the sex video, he’s no stranger to lewd conduct.
The inmate, currently serving a 15-year term for burglary and grand theft, has nimbly accumulated new charges in the slammer, including allegedly masturbating in a prison class led by a female instructor.