PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Robert Sampson, 52, of Gulf Breeze, Florida, was sentenced yesterday to serve four months in jail for the charges of Video Voyeurism and Disorderly Conduct. The sentence was announced by Jason R. Coody, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Evidence presented during the sentencing hearing revealed that Sampson, while an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), placed a hidden camera disguised to look like a cellular telephone charger power adapter, in a restroom at the Pensacola VA Joint Ambulatory Care Center. On approximately 17 occasions between May 2020 to June 2020, Sampson captured video of eight VA employees on the hidden camera. When employees discovered the recording device and notified the VA Police, Sampson attempted to wrestle the employees for control of the device. Sampson later admitted that he had placed the device in the restroom to record individuals in the bathroom and would later watch the footage.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Police responded to the disturbance and initiated the investigation into the allegations before forwarding the case to the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General.
Following Sampson’s four-month jail sentence, he will serve a one-year term of supervised release with one of the conditions being a limitation of Sampson’s use of computers and the internet. In addition, Sampson was ordered to pay a total of $1200 in fines and restitution to his victims.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs Police and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General are to be commended for their investigation of this crime. The defendant’s actions were a direct affront to his co-workers’ expectation of privacy,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Coody. “The victims in this case provide incredible service to our retired and disabled military community and they should feel safe and comfortable in their work environment. Deviant acts of voyeurism such as this will be aggressively prosecuted, and the offender will be held accountable.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer H. Callahan and Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Kalayjian, of the U.S. Navy JAG Corps.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
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