'Peeping Tom' Dentist Pleads Guilty to Videotaping Employees

WAXAHACHIE, Texas – A dentist accused of videotaping his female employees in their changing room with a hidden camera pleaded guilty Monday.

Steven C. Durbin, also a city commissioner in nearby Ennis, Tex., got five years of community supervision with deferred adjudication in the plea agreement on a state jail felony charge of improper photography or video recording.

As part of the agreement, Durbin, 50, must attend sex offender counseling, although he doesn't have to register as a sex offender.

Durbin's work and home computers will be monitored for improper material, and he will have to pay up to $1,000 in counseling expenses for the victims, the Waxahachie Daily Light reported.

All eight victims, sitting together in the jury box, testified that they agreed with the plea deal. Three gave impact statements.

"You're a dentist, a city commissioner, a husband, a father and a believer in God," one woman told Durbin. "If I couldn't trust you, who can I trust?"

Durbin's attorney didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.

The employees went to authorities in August after finding a video camera in a room where they changed into and out of medical scrubs at Durbin's dental office. According to an affidavit, the women confronted Durbin, who admitted making video recordings.

An Ennis city commissioner since 2000, Durbin said he would not seek re-election in May. He still has a private dental practice, according to the State Board of Dental Examiners' Web site.

A civil lawsuit filed by the women has been settled, said Clay Jenkins, the women's attorney in the civil case. Jenkins said the terms were confidential.