The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made the announcement on May 31, CNET reports. Amazon must pay two individual privacy violation penalties. $25 million will be shelled out "for allegedly not deleting children's data"...
A former Davenport West High School science teacher who was found guilty of charges he secretly recorded videos of people in various stages of undress in his Bettendorf home and destroyed evidence in connection with the case was resentenced Friday.
However, Clinton VanFossen, 63, has once again appealed the sentence handed down by Scott County District Judge Meghan Corbin.
VanFossen was booked into the Scott County Jail after he was sentenced to prison. He was later released after his wife posted a $13,000 appeal cash bond.
VanFossen's attorney, Matthew Gannon, filed the appeal shortly after the sentencing hearing ended. He is asking the Iowa Supreme Court to review Corbin's rulings.
Friday's sentencing hearing was necessary after VanFossen appealed his 2022 conviction and sentence on five counts of invasion of privacy, one count of electronic or mechanical eavesdropping and one count of preventing apprehension or obstructing prosecution.
The Iowa Court of Appeals in August affirmed his convictions but ordered him resentenced because Corbin did not state her reasons for the consecutive sentences she handed down.
After hearing from VanFossen's children and wife, and clinical psychologist Luis Rosell, who evaluated VanFossen on Nov. 9, Corbin sentenced VanFossen to the same sentence she had given him in his first sentencing.
On two counts of invasion of privacy and the single count of obstruction, Corbin sentenced VanFossen to two years on each count. The sentences were to run consecutively, or back-to-back, for a total of six years.
Corbin sentenced VanFossen to two years each on the three other counts of invasion of privacy, and one year on the count of electronic eavesdropping. Those sentences were to run concurrently, or at the same time, to one another, and concurrently to the consecutive sentences imposed on the other three charges.
Corbin stated that the reason for her imposing the prison sentence was because of the "nature of the offense and the seriousness of the crime and the effect that it has had on the community, and your apparent lack of remorse and unwillingness to accept treatment and change."
She noted that while VanFossen had been evaluated by a clinical psychologist in November, he apparently had omitted some details of the case that may have caused a different outcome in the evaluation.
She also said that while VanFossen got an evaluation, nowhere has she seen that he has sought out treatment.
"The reasons that I have run counts one, five and seven consecutively are the same as those I have stated for the prison sentence, and that is the need to protect the community, the seriousness of this offense, your lack of remorse or willingness to accept treatment and change, and the fact that this is the least restrictive alternative given the nature of the offense," Corbin said.
VanFossen recorded at least two people multiple times without their knowledge or consent in late December 2019 and early January 2020. At the time, the two were staying as guests in a bedroom at VanFossen's home and were recorded in various stages of undress. The court found that VanFossen had disposed of a cellphone, which may have contained evidence pertinent to the investigation.
Due to his convictions, VanFossen is required to register on Iowa's Sex Offender Registry.
He was arrested in June 2023 for allegedly violating the registry requirement by being issued a passport, failing to report an email account and failing to report driving a vehicle owned by his father-in-law.
A jury trial is scheduled in that case for March 10.