Springfield tightens tanning salon rules after hidden camera case Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Tanning salon owners will be subject to background checks and police inspections under stricter licensing rules adopted after one operator was charged with secretly videotaping female patrons undressing.
The new rules, which require an annual license for tanning salons, were approved by the City Council on Monday and will take effect in two months.
Salon owners will have to submit detailed background information and be subject to routine police inspections for hidden surveillance devices.
The city's finance and police departments will decide jointly whether to grant an applicant's license.
The action comes more than a year after Springfield police, tipped off by a employee of 360 Degree Tan, found a camera and about 40 digital files containing nude images of female patrons. The camera was placed near the foot of a tanning bed.
Salon owner Brett Patrick Kent faces a seven-count federal complaint and 22 counts of invasion of privacy in Greene County. Since his December 2005 arrest, Kent's whereabouts are unknown. He didn't show up at a hearing in December 2006.
Thirteen women also have filed civil lawsuits against Kent for invasion of privacy.
The new rules also require tanning salon operators to submit a complete set of fingerprints taken by Springfield police.
Cari Oughton, general manager of Body Fx, does not object to unannounced police inspections at her workplace but said the rules should encompass other facilities where people get undressed, "whether it be your local gym, local department stores, public restrooms ..."
"I just wish that they would look at other places other than tanning salons," Oughton
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