VIDEO -- Sheriff: Owner Secretly Filmed Naked Guests at California Rental and Had Children's Underwear

The owner of a rental vacation home in California is accused of secretly filming his tenants, including children, and keeping disturbing items inside the house.

The suspect was identified as 44-year-old Christian Parmalee Edwards, who allegedly filmed his tenants “through the blinds and from the inside” of the Oakhurst residence where he lived on the third floor, ABC 30 reported Friday.

The outlet noted that the vacation rental is near Yosemite, and reported:

After several tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children flagged the home, Madera County sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant and uncovered Edwards had filmed anywhere between 10-15 women and at least one child around six years old without their clothes on.

In a social media post on March 23, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office said authorities discovered over 4,000 digital files of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), which is commonly known as child pornography, at the home on Granite Butte Way:

Edwards was arrested, booked into the Madera County Jail, and is facing multiple felony charges related to the possession and distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Additional charges, including invasion of privacy, are pending as the investigation continues.

Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue told reporters that investigators also found new children’s underwear at the scene. “So, you can see the escalation here, that at some point he was probably going to become a hands-on offender,” the sheriff said.

A neighbor told ABC 6 he hopes they do not release the suspect because while he is locked up, everyone in the area is out of danger.

“Right now, it’s safe, and we didn’t even know we were in danger,” Anthony Polfer stated.

Edwards later pleaded not guilty to the CSAM charges, and Your Central Valley reported the sheriff’s office also found a lifelike child sex doll at the home.

Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno told the outlet, “It does make you feel a little sick. It shows that this person is graduating from looking at images, to engaging in activity with some kind of a doll, and moving, you know, more and more closer to actually harming an actual child.”

Edwards was reportedly an Airbnb host, according to Fox 26.

Airbnb was sued in 2025 after a guest was allegedly secretly recorded while nude in a vacation rental bathroom, according to Singleton Schreiber Injury Attorneys.

Per the ABC 30 article, deputies believe the suspect was watching a video of a naked female guest just before officers took him into custody.

A judge lowered Edwards’ bail from $225,000 to $75,000. Pogue said, “If he gets convicted of that, depending on his criminal history and other factors, he may get two or three years. I would say he only has to do 50% in our state jails. I think it’s shocking that it’s not more serious.”