Daryl Eugene Johnson (Cerro Gordo County Jail)
An Iowa father who recently pleaded guilty to interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has found himself once again embroiled in scandal for allegedly using his cell phone to surreptitiously record a woman as she was changing clothes at a tanning salon. Daryl Eugene Johnson, 52, was taken into custody late last month and charged with one count of invasion of privacy for the purpose of arousing or gratifying a sexual desire and one count of interference with official acts, court records show.
Daniel Johnson (left) Daryl Johnson (right) were recorded in the U.S. Capitol’s Hall of Columns. (Image via federal court documents.)
According to a sworn affidavit of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime, officers with the Clear Lake Police Department at approximately 6 p.m. on Jan. 27 responded to a call about a disturbance at iSun Tan 24/7 located in the 500 block of U.S. Hwy 18.
Police say that Johnson “used a chair to place his cell phone on top of an 8 ft wall separating adjacent tanning bed rooms.”
“The defendant placed the phone on the edge of the wall so his camera was facing the adjacent room where a female was tanning,” the affidavit states. “The female victim did not know they were being filmed and did not consent to be filmed while undressing, tanning, and redressing.”
Johnson was later “caught in [the] act” of filming and was then identified to police by a witness, the affidavit states.
After authorities arrived on the scene, Johnson refused to show officers the photos and videos on his phone and then “resisted the seizure” of his device, police wrote.
Johnson was booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail and released on Jan. 30 after posting a $2,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15.
If convicted on the invasion of privacy charge, an aggravated misdemeanor, Johnson faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Police indicated that the alleged secret recording of the woman may not be an isolated incident, according to a report from Mason City CBS affiliate KIMT.
“The charges stem from an ongoing investigation regarding a report of Johnson secretly recording patrons of a tanning business,” police reportedly said in court documents. “Investigators determined a digital recording device was placed by Johnson to intentionally record customers without their knowledge or consent.”
The iSun tanning salon is registered to Johnson’s father, Norman Johnson, according to records filed with the Iowa secretary of state.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Johnson and his son, Daniel Johnson, were both convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors said the duo climbed through a “smashed-out” window and entered the Capitol building at around 2:20 p.m. time, just minutes after the building was first breached. They stayed inside for around 26 minutes, at one point joining forces with a crowd that “rushed” a group of officers and helped push open the East Rotunda doors, which allowed rioters outside the building to enter.
Daniel Johnson (left) and his father Daryl Johnson (right) appear in a video screengrab recorded in a U.S. Capitol hallway. (Image via federal court documents.)
The day after the attack, Johnson took to social media where he lionized those who stormed the Capitol building.
“Mark my words Yesterday will be the beginning of the revolution . . . . what happens when those same people decide to throw out the ‘elected officials,’” he wrote, according to prosecutors. “It will be hangings on the front lawn of the capital – that crowd is not messing around.”
Describing the nature of Johnson and his son’s actions as “more egregious” than many of the other Jan. 6 cases, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, an appointee of President Donald Trump, sentenced Johnson to one month behind bars and his son to four months.
Read the affidavit below.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.