Doctor gets 4 years for video voyeurism

The women who testified at Dr. William Fouche’s sentencing on Wednesday knew him as part of their church family, a trusted friend and even a gynecologist.

But after visiting Fouche’s riverfront home to go swimming last year, one of the victims later watched in disbelief a secretly-taped DVD of herself undressing in his bathroom. The shocking footage then switched to a sexually explicit scene from an adult film that the victim described as hardcore pornography.

“I felt so incredibly ashamed that there I was, along with pornography,” the 30-year-old woman, who was shown the footage by investigators, said in court on Wednesday. Now, she said, she has a hard time using public restrooms, thoroughly searches hotel rooms when she goes on business trips, and wonders if the videos are available on the Internet.

Like other victims, she was urged by members of the Coeur d’Alene Church of the Nazarene to forgive and even write letters in support of Fouche as the allegations against him came to light. One victim received letters quoting Scriptures on forgiveness.

The troubling details were among a series of new disclosures to emerge Wednesday during a sentencing hearing for Fouche, 59, who was ordered by 1st District Judge Fred Gibler to serve four years in prison on one count of video voyeurism. Fouche must serve at least a year behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

In late September, the doctor pleaded guilty to the single felony charge as part of a plea agreement to avoid trial on that and four other counts of video voyeurism, as well as a count of possession of sexually exploitative material. The plea agreement also ensured that Fouche will avoid any requirement to register as a sex offender.

The acts of video voyeurism occurred between April and August 2004.

One of Fouche’s victims was an underage Guatemalan exchange student who lived with him while she attended North Idaho College. She was 17 years old at the time.

In a lengthy videotaped statement, the young woman described how she discovered the elaborate setup Fouche used to videotape her and others who used the guest bathroom at his Post Falls home.

She said that she had met Fouche and his late wife, Colleen, when they came to her church in Guatemala as missionaries in 2002. The Fouches invited her to come to North Idaho to study. She began making arrangements to travel to Idaho, but grew concerned when she hadn’t heard from the Fouches for some time.

Eventually, she said she got an e-mail saying that Colleen Fouche had died. Later, she received an e-mail from William Fouche saying he still wanted her to come to Idaho.

She said she thought of Fouche as her father. But as time went on, she began to feel uncomfortable. Fouche, she said, would come into her room, dressed only in a towel, and ask if she needed help with homework.

Sometimes the towel fell open, exposing Fouche, she said.

She said she really grew suspicious, though, when Fouche began asking her when she planned to shower. He would get angry if she didn’t turn on the bathroom’s ventilation fan – later she surmised that this was so the two-way mirror wouldn’t fog and obscure his view.

When she continued to leave the fan off, Fouche rewired the bathroom so that the fan was no longer on a separate switch, she said. When she began showering at the gym, she said, Fouche was upset.

She eventually went into Fouche’s bathroom – which shared a wall with the guest bathroom – and discovered a hole in the wall and that she could see through the mirror in the neighboring bathroom. She also discovered cameras that had pictures of her friends from school.

One victim said Fouche had offered her free medical care after getting to know her and her husband through church. When Fouche’s voyeurism was discovered, she was in the third trimester of pregnancy. She found out that Fouche had videotaped her while she was seven months pregnant and had used his bathroom to change.

“I started wondering if he’d kept things professional in our exams,” she said. “Did I really need a pelvic and breast exam every appointment?”

Now, the woman said, she will never see another male doctor. She is worried about being watched through the windows of her home. When she takes her dogs outside, she said, she hides a steak knife in her sleeve for protection.

“I will live with this forever,” she said.

The exchange student and another victim expressed concern that Fouche wouldn’t have to register as a sex offender. According to testimony Wednesday, the plaintiffs in the civil suit against the doctor had agreed to that.

“William Fouche is indeed a sex offender,” said a 22-year-old victim. “Whether he has to register as a sex offender or not does not make the truth go away.”

In a brief statement before the sentence was handed down, Fouche didn’t apologize, but he did tell the judge that he had regrets.

“I’ve caused a lot of pain and I offer no excuses,” he said.

His attorney, James Siebe, said that Fouche had been criticized for not apologizing to the victims. He said that a statement Fouche made in church on Easter Sunday in 2004 amounted to as much, though.

He said Fouche sought treatment in Mississippi soon after confessing to his congregation and then was advised by his lawyers not to talk.

Victims said that Fouche only admitted that he had a problem with pornography. Many in the church didn’t know that his problem included taping members of the congregation.

One of the victims said she watched that day as men in the church went forward to lay hands on Fouche, offer support and pray for him.

At Wednesday’s hearing, several letters were submitted to the judge in support of Fouche by members of the church, his patients and others in the community. Two of Fouche’s former partners at the Post Falls practice – Chris Billingslea and Anthony Peters – also wrote “glowing letters” of support, Siebe said.

Siebe described Fouche as “a good person who did a bad thing” and said that Fouche suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his wife’s death and his experiences as a Navy SEAL during Vietnam.

He asked the judge to consider all that Fouche had lost as a result of what he’d done. When the doctor was arrested, Siebe said, he voluntarily surrendered his medical license.

Fouche also sold his riverfront home and acreage to settle a civil case with his victims. Siebe said the buyers then turned around and sold the property for twice what they’d paid Fouche.

Prosecuting attorney Lansing Haynes said anything less than a prison sentence would diminish the impact of Fouche’s crimes.

“This was a crime that required immense preparation, immense planning, immense premeditation,” Haynes said.

Gibler agreed and said that Fouche must be held accountable.

“I’m convinced the victims will never ever truly get over this,” Gibler said. “Though not a physical invasion of their body, the acts of the defendant have come close to this.”