{"id":81466,"date":"2026-09-23T18:21:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=81466"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:22:03","slug":"polk-county-tax-collector-joe-g-tedder-speaks-out-on-polk-county-it-manager-accused-of-restroom-voyeurism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/09\/23\/polk-county-tax-collector-joe-g-tedder-speaks-out-on-polk-county-it-manager-accused-of-restroom-voyeurism\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder Speaks out on Polk County IT Manager Accused of Restroom Voyeurism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder<\/strong> issued a statement expressing shock and sadness after an employee was accused of secretly recording female co-workers inside an employee-only restroom in Bartow.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incident Details & Investigation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • The Discovery:<\/strong> An employee at the Tax Collector\u2019s Information Technology building located a small hidden camera concealed inside a disposable toilet seat cover dispenser in the women\u2019s restroom.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Identification:<\/strong> Detectives with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office reviewed footage stored on the camera’s SD card, which showed a man installing the device. Staff members identified the suspect as Sean Michael Krause<\/strong>, a 60-year-old IT manager for the facility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Victims:<\/strong> The memory card contained multiple video recordings showing at least three female employees recorded without their knowledge or consent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Suspect’s Death<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • After confessing to a witness at his Lakeland home, Krause left behind his mobile phone and medication before fleeing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • A park ranger located his vehicle at Colt Creek State Park. Inside the car, investigators recovered a written suicide note.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Deputies discovered Krause’s body in a wooded area of the park on September 22, 2026. Authorities stated that he apparently died by suicide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Sheriff Grady Judd noted that had Krause survived, he would have faced multiple felony counts of digital video voyeurism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Statements from Officials<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Tax Collector Joe Tedder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Tedder stated that he was deeply disturbed and saddened by the incident, emphasizing that his main focus is supporting the affected staff.<\/sup> He confirmed that Krause was fired immediately upon being identified as the suspect, praising his staff for their rapid response and cooperation with law enforcement.<\/sup> He requested that the community keep the impacted workers in their thoughts and prayers.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Sheriff Grady Judd<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Sheriff Judd highlighted the severity of digital voyeurism and commended the Tax Collector’s Office for acting swiftly to report the situation and preserve evidence.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Polk County Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder issued a statement expressing shock and sadness after an employee was accused of secretly recording female co-workers inside an employee-only restroom in Bartow.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDlcL0pvZS1HLi1UZWRkZXIud2VicD9maXQ9NDY4JTJDNjU0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUG9sayBDb3VudHkgVGF4IENvbGxlY3RvciBKb2UgRy4gVGVkZGVyIFNwZWFrcyBvdXQgb24gUG9sayBDb3VudHkgSVQgTWFuYWdlciBBY2N1c2VkIG9mIFJlc3Ryb29tIFZveWV1cmlzbSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.DXg-9X8EgF5anxaKS9kji4QyWfvI7nOLd4J92WUl5toMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA5XC9Kb2UtRy4tVGVkZGVyLndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIENvdW50eSBUYXggQ29sbGVjdG9yIEpvZSBHLiBUZWRkZXIgU3BlYWtzIG91dCBvbiBQb2xrIENvdW50eSBJVCBNYW5hZ2VyIEFjY3VzZWQgb2YgUmVzdHJvb20gVm95ZXVyaXNtIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.yxWe_vRHxP9Mb56Dt24V088qkzWe55py38nHwq06mtIMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[15229,15267,15238,17443,15236,17424,17444],"class_list":["post-81466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-bartow","tag-florida-news","tag-grady-judd","tag-joe-g-tedder","tag-polk-county-sheriffs-office","tag-sean-michael-krause","tag-voyeurism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81470,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81466\/revisions\/81470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}