Hunter
11/06/20
An Iowa City architect has pleaded guilty to charges of invasion of privacy after he was reportedly caught filming a female employee as she pumped breast milk in a private office.
Court records indicate that 68-year-old Robert Carlson was scheduled to go to trial on 22 counts of invasion of privacy this week, but instead his attorney filed a guilty plea to nine of those counts.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Jessica Clark, an employee at Carlson Design Team. She said that she discovered a recording device disguised as a pen while pumping breast milk in a conference room in December 2018. She plugged it into a tablet and found a video of herself pumping breast milk. She filed a report with the Iowa City Police, who executed a search warrant. They seized Carlson’s electronic devices while investigating the case, and found a total of 22 videos of Clark on his devices. Carlson was charged in June 2019.
Last month, a judge ruled that Carlson’s searches of pornography and research on hidden cameras and voyeurism would be allowed to be used by the prosecution at the upcoming trial.
Each of the nine counts Carlson pleaded guilty to comes with a maximum sentence of up to two years, but a plea agreement was reached that will dismiss the remaining 13 counts and recommend Carlson to be sentenced to six years in prison.
After release, Carlson would have to register in the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for ten years.