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House bugged?

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adt2

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

My father-in-law is in the hospital with terminal pancreatic cancer. My mother-in-law believes his children (this is the second marriage for both of them) have bugged her cellular phone and her house. She's currently at the cell phone place having her phone checked out, and I've asked her to go by the local spy store place to pick up a "bug scanner." I'm a little skeptical that we're going to find anything, but if it makes her feel better, then it's a small expense.

My question is, if we DO find anything, what are the legal ramifications? What does bugging somebody's house carry penalty-wise? Is it even a crime? How should we proceed if we find something? I'm thinking elaborate fake phone calls and visits, but I'm sure more level heads will prevail in the end...;)

Thanks in advance for your help.
 


adt2

Junior Member
I was disinclined to believe that her cell phone was bugged, mainly due to the fact that most of her step-family has the IQ of a medium-sized rock. But she insists that they are bringing up things in conversation that there is no way they could know about unless they heard her talking about it on her cell phone.

My wife is over there now, along with her brother, helping her move some of her things out of the house into her own home. The step-family lives right next door, so they have occasion to see each other on a regular basis. My wife now agrees that they know things that she and brother and momma have talked about alone inside the house.

Like I said - I'm skeptical, but not so skeptical that a few hundred dollars for a detector seems like a bad idea. This family has enough money to burn a wet elephant, so they have plenty of incentive to be sneaky (and if they're not smart enough to do it themselves, they have plenty of money to hire somebody to do it for them).
 

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