ZVRS (Photo : ZVRS)
ZVRS, a Florida-based video-calling company that caters to deaf people, filed a lawsuit against Brooklyn resident David Marcano for calling the service 4,646 times to masturbate in front of ZVRS employees.
ZVRS receives federal money whenever a hearing-disable person calls. The company uses a software in which its sign-language interpreters act as phone operators and place calls to third parties on behalf of the deaf caller. The two use sign language and the operator translates the message from the deaf as a voice call to the third party.
In the lawsuit filed by ZVRS in Brooklyn, the firm said 51-year-old Marcano is not deaf and he does not need the services of the company to translate calls on his behalf. Since Jan. 1, he made 4,646 calls to ZVRS only to pleasure himself while being viewed by the female sign-language operators.
The company has cancelled Marcano's account several times, but he just creates another one using fake information. In the last nine months, he has used eight different numbers using the account names "Davey Mareno," "Davey Mar," "Dave Maccan," "Dave Mard" and "Dave Macan," with the last call on Sept. 21.
The firm sought a court injunction to stop Marcano for using their service which he does not need. It charged him with fraud and breach of contract for signing up for the software and costing ZVRS productivity and business. Some of the company's workers had resigned due to emotional stress from dealing with Marcano.
In 2014, ZVRS was recognized as the most innovative company of the year. According to Sean Belanger, CEO of ZVRS, when Apple introduced FaceTime, he wrote to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to seek help on how the company could use the feature. Apple sent three engineers to ZVRS's office in Clearwater, and in one week, the service for the deaf was working, reports BizJournal.
