TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Trinity attorney James Patrick Stanton Jr has been voluntarily and permanently disbarred following a March 8 Florida Supreme Court order over allegations he used video equipment to tape female employees in an employee bathroom, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"In 2014, Stanton was charged in court with 123 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism, allegedly for placing video equipment in company bathrooms," the state bar said in its April 30 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "Is was alleged a computer technician discovered 142 video files while repairing Stanton’s computer depicting at least five female employees in different stages of undress in the employee bathroom, and Stanton is depicted in one of the videos removing what appear to be the covert cameras. The charges were later dismissed because of the statute of limitations."
In its two-page order, the high court approved the uncontested referee's report filed in the matter before permanently disbarring Stanton and ordered him to pay almost $6,175 in costs.
Stanton was admitted to the bar in Florida on April 20, 1999, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on his state bar profile.
In January, Stanton signed the consent to his disbarment. The consent describes the allegations against him that, between Feb. 1-June 30, 2010, he placed video recording equipment in employee bathrooms at a Tampa area company. The activity occurred while he was chief financial officer and corporate counsel for the facilities management business, according to Stanton's consent for disbarment and the state bar's formal complaint filed later.
A technician found the videos in November 2010 while working on Stanton's laptop. "One video depicts [Stanton] entering the women's restroom where he quickly removes a covert camera from the restroom and places it into a bag," the formal complaint said.
The technician reported the covert videos to company management but did not contact law enforcement until February 2014 and Stanton was arrested the following March. The case was dismissed the following August because the statute of limitations had expired on all 123 counts against Stanton.
The state bar filed its formal complaint against Stanton in October 2016, according to the referee's report.