Chiropractor with hidden cameras in ceiling pleads guilty to voyeurism

A Winnipeg chiropractor accused of using concealed cameras to record patients has pleaded guilty to voyeurism.

Dr. Robert Stitt, 67, appeared in court Wednesday and will be sentenced at a later date.

Stitt pleaded guilty for offences committed between Nov. 29, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024, involving eight female victims.

“By pleading guilty, you are admitting to the allegation?” defence lawyer Richard Wolson put to Stitt during a plea inquiry before provincial court Judge Mark Kantor.

“Yes,” Stitt said.

A plea inquiry is a series of questions asked of an accused to ensure that their guilty pleas are informed and voluntary.

Court heard Stitt has reviewed an agreed statement of facts prepared in the case, but no facts were put on the record Wednesday.

“We have gone over the agreed facts in great detail, and I am quite satisfied he understands what he is pleading to,” Wolson said.

The Manitoba Chiropractors Association suspended Stitt’s licence in January 2024, the association previously confirmed.

Stitt was arrested after an approximately year-long investigation that saw Winnipeg Police Service officers raid the Natural Wellness Chiropractic Centre and seize a recording device and five cameras hidden in fake sprinkler heads at the Portage Avenue office.

According to search warrant documents previously reviewed by the Free Press, Manitoba Chiropractors Association president Dr. Gerald Chartier was the first to spot the hidden cameras after he visited the centre to investigate a patient complaint alleging Stitt had engaged in inappropriate touching.

The documents allege Stitt told Chartier he had a video recording of his interaction with the patient, believing it would exonerate him of wrongdoing. Chartier went to Stitt’s office and, while searching video files for a recording of the incident involving the complainant, he saw up to three women disrobing.

“One of the females was facing the camera with her breasts exposed,” Winnipeg Police Service Const. Philip Cole wrote in an affidavit. “In these videos it appeared that the unknown females had no idea that they had been (recorded).”

The Crown is proceeding by summary conviction, which for voyeurism carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a fine of $2,000.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca