The preliminary hearing for a Great Bend man charged with secretly photographing or recording customers at a local tanning salon on a cellphone has been postponed. The hearing for Tracy James Driscoll, 35, had been scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 2, in Barton County District Court. However, County Attorney Amy Mellor confirmed that the hearing would not be happening and said a new date has not yet been scheduled.
No reason for the continuance was on file in the electronic records available to the public. Several witnesses had been issued subpoenas, including two Great Bend Police officers and the owner of EZ Tan, located at 1657 K-96 in the Westgate shopping center.
Court records show Driscoll has entered a plea of not guilty.
On Feb. 16, GBPD officers were called to the tanning salon to investigate an incident in which customers suspected they had been secretly photographed. A woman told police she was inside a booth when she saw a hand holding a cellphone above the partition.
Police were called to the business and talked to Driscoll, collecting his cellphone as evidence. It was then sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for analysis.
In May he was charged with eight counts of breach of privacy, a level 8 person felony. The charges allege a concealed device was used to photograph or record individuals without their consent while they were nude or undressing.
The formal complaint alleges this occurred eight times between Nov. 28, 2017, and Feb. 16 of 2018, and shows six different victims, identified by their initials.
Driscoll remains free on a $10,000 bond posted on the day he was booked.