Man taped AirPods to woman’s car to track her, got job at her work, FL cops say

An accused “out of control” stalker was arrested after a Florida woman discovered AirPods taped to the underside of her car, according to police.

Luis Eduardo Rendon, 28, was taken into custody Tuesday, Oct. 21, on charges of aggravated stalking and invading privacy by using a tracking device, according to an arrest report by Winter Springs police.

The victim told investigators Rendon is the brother of a friend and had “been harassing her for some time,” but that his behavior was escalating and she was “in fear for her life,” according to the report.

The harassment began with text messages and calls, and she told him to stop and eventually blocked his number, according to police. Still, he continued calling her, police said, appearing as private or out-of-state phone numbers. Once, the woman received 88 calls in a matter of minutes, according to the report.

When she stopped responding, he turned to Zelle to contact her, sending payment requests and writing messages in the memo box, police said.

Next, investigators say Rendon got a job at the woman’s workplace, so she changed her hours to be the opposite of his to avoid him.

He once showed up to her apartment at night and attempted to get her to come outside, but she wouldn’t, police said. Rendon threatened her, saying he would make her come out, “and on the same night, the fire alarm handle was pulled in her building,” causing residents to evacuate, according to the report.

“Lastly, Mr. Rendon would send her messages from unknown numbers, claiming to know her whereabouts at all times and who she was with,” the report read.

The woman felt she was being tracked and took her vehicle to a friend to be inspected, police said. The friend found a plastic bag taped to the undercarriage of the car, hidden away and holding a set of AirPods inside their case, according to the report.

Police say Rendon was using a device tracking feature to keep tabs on the woman’s location.

The woman contacted police and said Rendon’s “behavior is getting out of control, and she’s in fear that (he) will harm her or her children because she refuses to communicate with him.”

Police confronted Rendon at his home in the neighboring community of Longwood. He initially denied the woman’s accusations, but police say he eventually confessed to making the calls and Zelle payment requests and to taping the AirPods to her car “because he liked her” and “ wanted to know where she was going.”

Rendon was booked into the Seminole County Jail, and records show he’s been denied bond.

Winter Springs is a suburb of Orlando, and a roughly 15-mile drive northeast from the city’s downtown.