Bettendorf, Ia (KWQC) – A Davenport West High School science teacher has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of secretly recording women in his Bettendorf home.
58-year-old Clinton Van Fossen filed a written plea Thursday through his attorney, Michael Motto Jr., in Scott County Court.
He has a pretrial conference on March 25, court records show. A trial is tentatively scheduled for April 6.
Van Fossen is charged with five counts of invasion of privacy, an aggravated misdemeanor; one count of preventing apprehension and obstructing justice, also an aggravated misdemeanor; and one count of electronic or mechanical eavesdropping, a serious misdemeanor.
The Bettendorf Police Department opened an investigation after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tip involved what appeared to be a teenage girl being filmed, sometimes while nude, “likely without the knowledge of the video/recording being present” at Van Fossen’s home, according to an arrest affidavit.
Bettendorf Police Chief Keith Kimball has said there did not appear to be any minor victims involved.
Contact was made at Van Fossen’s home Jan. 7 and two hidden “spy” cameras designed to look like smoke/carbon monoxide detectors were located mounted to the ceiling in a bedroom and the hallway just outside of the bedroom.
Police spoke with Van Fossen about the cyber tip and the cameras. He denied having any knowledge of the cameras and said he did not realize they differed in style from all other detectors in his home, according to the affidavit.
The investigation found that video footage captured in October showed him on a cell phone looking in the direction of a camera and then manually adjusting the direction of the camera. Footage from the camera system is commonly accessed using an app on a cell phone.
The investigation also found that Van Fossen bought a new cell phone at a store in Davenport hours after he talked with the police, according to the affidavit.
The cell phone he previously owned was not located during a search of his home and it is believed that he destroyed it to prevent the discovery of evidence on the phone linked to the cameras and the investigation.
