Video voyeur to serve sentence on weekends

Former Palatka police officer pleaded no contest to using cellphone to record women in World Gym tanning booth

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The former World Gym employee and ex-Palatka police officer who pleaded no contest in November to two counts of video voyeurism will be allowed to serve his 300-day sentence on weekends.

Investigators said that Jerry Hackney, 37, placed his cellphone in a closet at the tanning salon at the gym on U.S. 1 South in St. Johns County to record women getting into and out of a tanning booth. The illegal recording took place in January 2013.

According to a police report and arrest warrant, one of the victims, a 25-year-old woman, found Hackney's cellphone at the tanning salon and gave it to investigators.

Detectives said they found nude images of her and a second woman on the phone. Reports say a search of Hackney's home computer found three additional videos of the first victim completely naked in the tanning room.

"[The victim] came directly to law enforcement, so there were no other witnesses to it that we know of," said Catherine Payne, spokeswoman for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. "She did exactly what you should've done."

The victim picked Hackney out of a photo lineup as the World Gym employee who checked her into the room.

Hackney will be allowed to serve his sentence on Fridays through Sundays over the next two years, then he will remain on probation for an additional five years. He will not be considered a sex offender or predator because voyeurism doesn't fall under those statutes. He must report to the St. Johns County Detention Center this week.

Prosecutors said they asked the judge for a 2-year prison sentence and there was no plea agreement.

The sentence has some people upset, saying the sentence is too lenient.

Roxanne Weeks filed a complaint about Hackney years ago when he worked as a police officer in Palatka. She said he ruined her case and harassed her. Newspaper records show he resigned amidst an internal investigation after being one of four officers accused of beating a man they arrested. He then worked for the Putnam County Sheriff's Office and spent time as a reserve deputy for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office before leaving law enforcement.

Weeks is outraged over his jail sentence. But she said she and others have been calling for charges against Hackney for years for a series of allegations, and now he's finally at least getting some kind of punishment.

"This is not deserving of what he's done. At all," said Roxanne Weeks, who filed a complaint against Hackney. "Three-hundred days to be served on weekends over a two-year period? He should go to prison."

"I am just thankful that finally he has been exposed for what is -- he has been caught and cannot be a law enforcement officer anymore.

"World Gym St. Augustine is very disappointed with the lenient sentence and lack of Sexual Predator status on his permanent record, ex-employee Jerry Hackney received yesterday," Mike Lynch, the gym's owner, wrote in a statement. "World Gym St. Augustine will be pursuing a civil lawsuit versus Jerry Hackney for damages the crimes he committed during his 27-day employment at World Gym St. Augustine."

Lynch told Channel 4 he did a complete background check on Hackney before hiring him, but the results turned up that Hackney had never been arrested.

Several people in law enforcement said weekend sentences aren't uncommon. According to a prosecutor with the State Attorney's Office, the judge said Hackney could have this sentence so that he would be able to work to support his family and pay restitution to the victims because they need counseling.

Hackney's mugshot and address weren't released because he is a former police officer and they are protected by law.