A woman who was terrorized for two years by her own home security has shared the traumatic details of her ordeal – and what eventually led to her stalker being caught.
The woman, who lives in Brecksville, Ohio, unknowingly hired stalker Robert Hocevar’s company Elite Technology in 2022 to install a home security system.
After setting up the system Hocevar, 57, began to stalk the woman, using the cameras he had installed to watch her from both his vehicle and his home.
The woman, who has not been named publicly, began receiving phone calls in the middle of the night.
She recalled him referring to her by name in the calls, and later, she started receiving text messages that contained graphic images and videos – admitting it took a heavy toll on her.
‘Not knowing who it was at all and having no clue… Initially, I thought it was somebody just playing a joke on me but then as it started to get worse and worse, that’s when I decided to go to the police,’ the mom-of-three told News Nation Now.
Hocevar – who had dubbed himself ‘Bob the alarm guy’ – was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on July 8, with seven known victims in total.
The woman, who works as a nurse, said she had hired Hocevar after a relative recommended his company.
The mom detailed having an uncomfortable feeling when the alarm was being installed but dismissed it.
‘When he was talking to me after it was installed, I had a moment where I felt uncomfortable because he was very close to me,’ she admitted. ‘I remember taking some steps backwards.’
The Brecksville woman said the scariest part of her two-year nightmare was when her burglar alarm was activated by Hocevar remotely on three different occasions in the middle of the night.
‘It was scary because I was lying in bed many nights, wondering if this is the night that this escalates and he does something physical,’ she explained.
After two whole years of being terrified, the woman decided to try and catch her stalker herself by communicating directly with him in the hope they would reveal their identity.
‘I would text and he would text me and he started to give more clues of who he was,’ she explained.
Eventually, Hocevar slipped up, forgetting to disguise his voice with the woman vaguely recognizing it.
‘I had a family member listen to it after I kind of figured out it was him and when she heard his voice, she said, “without a doubt, that’s him,”‘ she said.
She was later watching a story on Fox affiliate station WJW when she realized Hocevar was her stalker, learning he had been arrested for stalking and harassing two other of his female customers, and in addition had a long criminal history.
‘I felt like, “how is this man in people’s homes selling alarm systems when he’s been harassing, stalking?”‘ she asked, adding: It’s terrifying to think I had this man in my home.’
In June, Hocevar pled guilty to three counts of burglary, three counts of unauthorized use of computer, cable, or telecommunications property, three counts of menacing by stalking, one count with sexual specifications, three counts of telecommunications harassment and one count of possessing criminal tools. He must also register as a Tier I sex offender.
As per Cleveland 19 News, Hocevar was convicted of one count of telecommunications harassment and one count of menacing by stalking and was sentenced to nine months in prison in 2008.
In 2015, Hocevar was convicted of three counts of telecommunications harassment and was sentenced to one year in prison.
In 2020, Hocevar was convicted of two counts of menacing by stalking and was sentenced to six months in prison.
Detectives discovered that Hocevar was using burner phones and altering his voice to conceal his identity, while stalking and terrorizing his victims, as per Fox 8.
All of them had hired him to install security systems, which included cameras and alarms.
