Colorado Springs health club worker used cell phone camera to spy on woman in shower, lawsuit alleges

A worker at a posh health club in northeast Colorado Springs used a cell phone camera to spy on a pregnant woman as she showered in a private stall, a lawsuit alleges.

Kristen Roth, 22, of Colorado Springs, said in an 11-page complaint filed in 4th Judicial District Court in Colorado Springs on Friday that operators of Life Time Fitness, 4410 Royal Pine Drive, failed to contact police after the employee acknowledged in front of co-workers that he had video recorded the woman.

The employee's "matter of fact" and "pathetic" response to the allegations - that he was only looking at the woman's feet - was documented by Roth's husband, Richard Gallion, who turned on his own cell phone recorder while confronting the man, the suit alleges.

"The husband says something along the lines of, 'Did I walk into the family locker room and see you videotaping my wife naked in the shower?'" said Phil Winegar, the couple's attorney. "He goes, 'Indeed,' and then they start quibbling over the position of the phone."

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According to complaint, the employee had knelt down and placed his cell phone at or under a 1- to 3-inch gap at the bottom of the shower door.

The alleged peeping occurred sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Dec. 27 at the 24-hour facility.

The woman had just finished a swim in the health club pool and was showering in a mixed-sex dressing room with private booths for changing and showering. The complaint says Gallion entered the dressing room to check on his wife and caught the employee "red-handed."

After lodging a complaint, the couple left the facility expecting that police would be called, but they later learned the employee was dismissed and allowed to leave with his phone, Winegar said.

"Once that phone went out the door, I think there's a pretty reasonable assumption that this guy isn't preserving that video waiting for the police show up," he said.

Asked why his client did not herself approach police, Winegar said she was "embarrassed" and "humiliated" and only wanted to leave. The couple exercise at night because of Gallion's work schedule.

A message left for Miklos Horvath, senior general manager of the local facility, went unreturned Monday. A receptionist at Life Time Fitness's corporate headquarters referred The Gazette to the company's legal department, which had not responded as of 5 p.m. Monday.

Based in Minneapolis, Life Time Fitness operates more than 120 health clubs across the country, touting top-of-the-line equipment and facilities, including locker rooms "richly appointed with cherrywood and limestone with granite counters," according to its website.

The roughly 180,000-square-foot, $27 million "healthy lifestyle resort" near Briargate Parkway and Powers Boulevard opened in 2011, becoming the second megagym in the area after Villa Sport, which offers similar services.

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Contact Lance Benzel: 636-0366

Twitter: @lancebenzel

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Source: Colorado Springs health club worker used cell phone camera to spy on woman in shower, lawsuit alleges