Head monk at Cape Breton monastery pleads guilty to voyeurism
Monastery's operators and their umbrella organization also facing civil suit
The head monk at a Buddhist monastery in rural Cape Breton has pleaded guilty to voyeurism after a guest said he spotted a video camera on the wall.
The case came about after a 38-year-old Texas man named Christopher Longoria said he visited Gampo Abbey in Pleasant Bay, N.S., in November 2021.
Longoria said he approached the monastery's head monk, Jack Hillie III, about the camera and he admitted it was his.
According to court records, Hillie's charges stem from offences that occurred between December 2020 and November 2021.
The monastery's operators and its umbrella organization, the Shambhala Canada Society, are also facing a civil suit from Longoria. It claims the defendants knew or ought to have known that intrusions of privacy were occurring at Gampo Abbey and they failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate the risks.
Halifax-based firm Valent Legal is representing Longoria in the civil suit. Last month, they said they wanted to speak to other people who have stayed at Gampo Abbey.
Hillie is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 7 in Port Hawkesbury Provincial Court.
