(Lander, WY) – Lander resident Dudley Irvine was sentenced to 3 years supervised probation, at his Tuesday, April 19th sentencing hearing, overseen by the Honorable Judge Marvin Tyler.
Irvine recently pled “no contest” to an attempted voyeurism felony charge at his February change of plea hearing, after filing a plea agreement on February 5th.
Irvine had originally pled “not guilty” back in September to the charge, which stemmed from an incident occurring during his time as the owner of a Lander fitness facility, when a gym member reported finding a “covert recording device that was plugged into an electrical outlet facing the shower within the women’s locker room.”
Irvine faced a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine, which was suspended in favor of the supervised probation.
While the defense, the prosecution, Judge Tyler, and even Irvine himself all agreed his crime his had a serious effect on the community, several factors went into the probation sentencing.
Lynn Scott, a counsellor licensed to practice in Wyoming/Idaho with 39 years of experience, attended the hearing to speak on Irvine’s behalf.
Scott began seeing/counselling Irvine in June of 2021, and has met with him 45 times since.
Scott stated Irvine was “exemplary in willingness” to adhere to his advice/treatment, with no signs of avoidance, and further stated that in his opinion, Irvine “was a low risk to reoffend.”
Specific findings from Scott’s treatment were included in the PSI Report, which Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Hancock commented “was done quite well,” and that Irvine “took immediate accountability,” but felt probation would diminish the seriousness of the offense and what happened to the victims.
“Part of the whole reason we have these criminal statutes, is because these crimes go beyond harming individual people,” Hancock stated. “How do they affect society as well? As a society, we’re injured by what Mr. Irvine attempted to do. His behavior is disturbing, inappropriate, wrong, scary. Women are in very states of undress.”
Hancock then referenced one of the victim’s impact statements.
“This impacted her. She went from being confident, but now lives in fear,” he commented before adding, “surreptitious video recording can be easily shared on the web. It is disturbing thinking that this footage could go anywhere. Is it out there? We don’t know…”
Hancock then suggested that due to Irvine’s willingness to rehabilitate, that a 18-60 month sentence would be the state’s recomendation.
Thomas Fasse, Irvine’s Defense Attorney, addressed the concerns about dissemination of the video.
“I’m not making light of the of the victims,” Fasse commented before stating that a search warrant was conducted on all of Irvine’s electronic devices in a massive data dump that “took the Lander Police Department 60 days to go through,” adding that “no images were discovered, and no depictions were found during that data screening process.”
Fasse also stated that Irvine had received multiple letters supporting his potential rehabilitation.
Before Judge Tyler made his final decision, Irvine was given the chance to speak.
“I am deeply sorry to everyone that’s been affected by this incident. My community, my state, my past customers, (he then named one of the victims), my friends, my family, and my wife and kids. I’ve brought shame and disgrace to all these good people in my life, and I am truly sorry for that. I’ve had to learn some hard lessons these last few months, most prominent of which, is that I’m going to do everything in power to never be in any kind of situation like this again. My only hope is that my friends, family and community can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”
“I find the plea agreement fair, and I will accept it,” Judge Tyler then stated during deliberation, “I find the defendant guilty of this offense, and enter a conviction against him on this felony charge.”
“The court has considered a sentence of probation, as well as other sentencing options,” Judge Tyler continued before elaborating that he is required by law to consider probation sentences.
Judge Tyler ultimately found probation as an appropriate sentence in this instance, based on what he read in the Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) Report. Judge Tyler commented Irvine had completed a sexual offender recidivism evaluation for risk assessment in terms of reoffending.
Irvine reportedly scored a low risk for recidivism, and the PSI writer indicated the defendant was appropriate for a probation sentence.
“This is a serious and significant crime. The impact of this crime on the individuals who were involved, and upon our society, and upon our community is also significant, and maybe irreparable.”
“I think that the defendant can find ways to rehabilitate himself, and rehabilitate his standing within our community and society by his actions if he’s given an opportunity, so that’s why I find probation is appropriate,” Judge Tyler concluded.