CAPE GIRARDEAU — An Advance pharmacist who secretly videoed a restroom at his business was sentenced Wednesday to four years of incarceration and five years of supervised probation.
Bruce Dovin signed a plea of guilt April 29 for one felony count of invasion of privacy and three misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy. He was sentenced before Judge Benjamin Lewis of the 32nd Judicial Circuit.
The charges stem from allegations that he had placed a video camera in an employee restroom of his pharmacy in Advance.
According to Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Sawyer Smith, the state asked for any term of incarceration — with the maximum time being four years in prison. While Dovin did agree to plead guilty to all of the four charges, the court determined the sentence for each of the charges would run concurrently along with there being a suspended exocution of sentence - which means Dovin will not be incarcerated.
“We really wanted for there to be some confinement,” Smith noted. “We respect the judgment of the court, though. (Dovin) is now a convicted felon,” According to refgulations, Dovin will be prohibited from regaining his license due to reasons of moral turpitude.
According to the probable cause statement, the Digital Forensics Unit of the Missouri Highway Patrol conducted an investigation May 26 in Stoddard County. During the course of the investigation it was determined Dovin had recorded video of two different individuals in the restroom at his pharmacy. In one of the videos, a woman was secretly recorded while she was changing clothes.
According to investigators, information from a verified source was received indicating a hidden camera was installed in the employee restroom of the pharmacy. In the video, Dovin reportedly is clearly visible setting up the camera.
Dovin’s cellular phone was examined when investigators executed a search warrant on his home and inside a password protected application on the phone investigators discovered three hidden camera videos taken from the restroom at the pharmacy.
Reed said in the statement the videos show adult females going to the restroom and one changing clothes.
Dovin had been scheduled to stand trial on April 30, but entered the plea of guilty to all charges the day before.