Homeowner says porn-shooting Airbnb lodger caused $10,000 in damage

MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A California woman said an overflowed bathtub led to revelations that a woman renting a room through Airbnb was using her home to shoot pornography.

Sharon Marzouk of Menlo Park said she rents out some of the rooms in her home to cover the high cost of living in the Silicon Valley and she recently rented a room to a woman through lodging-finding app Airbnb.

"This was my first Airbnb host reservation from someone I didn't know. But seeing that she was a nice smiling female in her mid twenties, insisting that she was clean and easy going and eager to book my room, I thought to myself... what could be the worst case?" Marzouk said in a Facebook post.

Marzouk said her opinion of the lodger began to shift when another housemate called to tell her the woman had overflowed the bathtub.

"There was water pouring from the second floor to the first floor," Marzouk told KGO-TV.

Marzouk said the tub, which the lodger apparently accidentally left running for a half hour unattended, led her to some unusual discoveries -- sex toys, a suitcase full of condoms and a "checklist" that appeared to detail pornographic videos and photos the woman was planning to take.

"And then it made sense why she had put her own source of lighting into the bathroom, even though the bathroom has many lightbulbs already. I suspect she needed more appropriate lighting for whatever videos and pictures she was taking for her 'colleagues,'" Marzouk wrote on Facebook.

She posted a video to YouTube showing the damage to her home as well as photos of the items she discovered the woman had brought into her home.

Marzouk said she believes Airbnb should have more rigid screening procedures.

"I gave my key to someone who Airbnb didn't even check their identification," Marzouk said.

Nick Shapiro, an Airbnb spokesman, said the company is taking action against the lodger.

"We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have removed this guest from our platform," Shapiro said.

He said the company will cover the damage to Marzouk's home, which she estimated at about $10,000.