A former massage therapist at Massage Envy on Friday pleaded guilty to 20 counts of unlawful photographing.
Kenneth Spears will be sentenced on Oct. 31 by Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson under an "open plea" in which the prosecution and defense leave sentencing up to the judge without a recommendation.
Prosecutor Charles Minor said Spears initially told police there was only the one victim, who noticed a cell phone in the room as she was undressing.
He said four days later Spears "came clean" and turned over a flash drive with videos of 88 different clients undressing.
The case arose last September when a client said she "had a weird feeling" and found a cell phone that had filmed her undressing. She said she went ahead with the massage, then afterward picked up the phone again and deleted the video of her undressing.
The woman said she confronted Spears and he apologized and began deleting videos off the phone.
Prosecutor Minor said police eventually compiled a list of all 88 victims.
Several of those have filed civil actions against Spears, who was fired by Massage Envy.
Some did not want to get involved in the prosecution due to embarrassment, it was stated.
The prosecutor said none of the videos were disseminated. He said Spears transferred them from his phone to a flash drive and used them for "his personal satisfaction."
The charge was a misdemeanor at the time, but it has since been upgraded to a felony.
Mr. Minor said the actions of Spears are "without a doubt atrocious. They have caused a great deal of pain and suffering to each of the victims." On the other hand, he said, Spears had come forward with a full confession.
The defense waived its reliance on the one-year statute of liminations.
A spokesperson for Massage Envy stated, “While we don’t know the details of the plea agreement, we are relieved that this despicable behavior will be addressed by the Court on Oct. 31. We are grateful that there will be criminal consequences for these deplorable actions.”