A former facilities worker at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center was sentenced Thursday to nine months in jail for placing a camera in bathrooms used by staff at the hospital women’s center.
Shortly before being sentenced at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor, David Waltz, 58, of Hampden pleaded guilty to eight counts of invasion of privacy, a Class D crime.
Waltz began serving his sentence immediately.
By pleading guilty, Waltz admitted capturing images of a dozen hospital employees, both men and women, on camera in three different bathrooms that only staff could access, according to Penobscot County District Attorney Marianne Lynch.
She told District Court Judge Gregory Campbell on Thursday that Waltz used one camera that he moved from bathroom to bathroom over a three-month period. He did not share the images with anyone else or post them on social media, Lynch said.
In imposing the sentence, Campbell called Waltz’s conduct “reprehensible and premeditated.”
“This is the type of crime that carries a significant impact,” the judge said. “This crime is a very serious one, but one the court has limited options on. Under the law, I don’t have the authority to sentence someone to prison [instead of jail]. I have no authority to put him on probation for this type of offense because it is not a felony.”
An emotional Waltz apologized to his victims, a few of whom attended the sentencing.
“It is with great regret and shame that I am here today,” Waltz said. “I am deeply sorry. I truly lacked respect for all the victims.”
One of the victims, who is not being named by the Bangor Daily News, expressed frustration with the legal process and the fact that the statute does not call for Waltz to register as a sex offender.
“I ask for justice not revenge,” she told the judge. “I ask for a full sentence of a year. He chose to bring the camera into the workplace. And he chose to move that camera again and again.”
Lynch said after the sentencing that Maine’s sex offender registry law does not require a person convicted of photographing someone in a bathroom or a changing room to register.
If he had surreptitiously photographed under a woman’s clothing at a school, a retail store or the courthouse, he could have been ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years as Benjamin Emmott, 30, a former Bangor teacher, was last June.
She also said that some victims had said they would seek a change in the law.
Tricia Denham, director of communications and marketing at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, declined to comment on the case.
Bangor police arrested Waltz in October, a month after the camera was discovered and the hospital suspended him. He had been free on bail since then.
Lynch recommended a sentence of nine months and a day. Defense attorney Kaylee Folster of Bangor urged the judge to impose a four-month sentence.
Waltz faced up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 on each count.