Hunter
03/12/21
An Iowa City architect who used a hidden device to record a female employee pumping breast milk has been given a suspended sentence, but will have to register as a sex offender.
68-year-old Robert Carlson pleaded guilty in November to nine counts of invasion of privacy after originally facing 22 counts. He was sentenced Thursday in Johnson County Court.
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.
In the plea deal, prosecutors recommended Carlson be sentenced to six years in prison. Judge Deborah Minot suspended the sentence, giving Carlson two years of probation and directed that he be put on the Sex Offender Registry.