NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — Longtime Denver attorney Robert Wiegand II was reciprocally disciplined April 8 by a Louisiana Supreme Court attorney disciplinary proceeding after he allegedly installed a surveillance camera in a restroom at his firm's office in Colorado.
"Under these circumstances, it is appropriate to defer to the Colorado judgment imposing discipline upon respondent," the Louisiana Supreme Court said in its five-page attorney disciplinary proceeding. "Accordingly, we will impose the same discipline against respondent as was imposed in Colorado."
The Louisiana court handed down a fully stayed year-and-a-day suspension and placed him on two years' conditional probation.
Wiegand was admitted to the bar in Louisiana and Colorado in 1972, according to the disciplinary proceeding. No prior history of discipline is listed on his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
In 2012, a female associate in Wiegand's office was changing her clothes in one of two of the firm's restrooms when she discovered a surveillance camera, according to the disciplinary proceeding. The associate presented the camera to Weigand and suggested calling the police but Wiegand replied that he did not believe there was any immediate need to summon law enforcement.
The associate alleged Wiegand also suggested they destroy the camera's memory card, scrape tape off the back of the camera and discard the tape, and open the battery compartment and handle the batteries.
Police were later contacted but a subsequent investigation was closed.
The associate the firm's female office manager said Wiegand also engaged in unprofessional behavior, including inappropriate touching and comments, that made the two women feel uncomfortable and caused them emotional harm.
The associate and the office manager subsequently left the firm and, in 2016, prevailed in their premises liability and sexual discrimination allegations against Wiegand filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. A Colorado court found by preponderance of the evidence - but not beyond a reasonable doubt - that Wiegand "was either directly responsible for or complicit in placing the camera," the disciplinary proceeding said.
The civil rights claims court also found that Wiegand's firm didn't have discrimination or harassment policies and procedures, issues that the attorney has since addressed, according to the disciplinary proceeding.
"He also denies placing the camera in the bathroom," the disciplinary proceeding said.