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Boss gets 120 days in jail for videotaping women in bathrooms
[May 01, 2010]

Boss gets 120 days in jail for videotaping women in bathrooms


CLAYTON, May 01, 2010 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- About 15 minutes of tearful testimony from victims and their loved ones factored heavily into a St. Louis County judge's decision Friday to reject a plea deal and impose a stronger penalty on a man accused of secretly videotaping women in bathrooms.



Four victims took the witness stand, as did one victim's husband, another's boyfriend and another's fiance. Prosecutor Kim Kilgore read three victims' statements.

They spoke of nightmares, anxiety, alienation and paranoia since they learned that their boss and friend, Jack Eigles, 55, had used hidden cameras to record them in bathrooms at their workplace as well as his house during get-togethers.


Judge Robert Cohen rejected a plea agreement reached between the prosecutor and defense that would have given Eigles a clean record after 90 days in jail and five years of probation.

Eigles then agreed to plead guilty to three counts of criminal invasion, even without the deal. Cohen ordered him to serve 120 days in jail -- plus four years in prison if he fails to meet terms of a suspended execution of sentence.

That sentence leaves Eigles with a permanent felony record. "This is something you're not going to outlive," Cohen told him.

Eigles had been president of Corporate Cash-Flow Solutions, at 150 Long Road in Chesterfield, but has since left the company. He and the firm are also being sued in civil court over the videos.

Kilgore told the court Friday that Eigles' secret video obsession began to unravel after he asked a technology assistant to build a camera that could be hidden in an air freshener at his home, because he wanted to catch someone he believed had stolen a watch. The employee later saw the air freshener inside the woman's bathroom at the company, downloaded its images and reported Eigles to police.

Investigators later found cameras hidden in tissue boxes, picture frames, space heaters and air fresheners. Prosecutors were able to identify 13 victims, who had been recorded at the business and at Eigle's home in Chesterfield during a holiday party in 2007.

One victim said Friday that she and her husband frequently vacationed with Eigles and his wife at the Lake of the Ozarks, only to find he had taped her there, too.

Some of the images have been posted on the Internet, officials said.

Cohen agreed to allow Eigles to attend his daughter's upcoming wedding, rehearsal dinner and photo session before he reports to the St. Louis County Justice Center to begin his sentence June 21.

Prosecutors also set multiple conditions on Eigles' probation, including continued therapy, no contact with the victims, no solicitation of women for sexual services and periodic monitoring of his BlackBerry phone and computer.

Eigles' attorney, Benjamin Capshaw, read a statement on his behalf, saying Eigles was remorseful.

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