A 60-year-old Lakeland man accused of secretly recording women in a Bartow office bathroom was found dead in a wooded area of Colt Creek State Park early Tuesday morning, in what authorities describe as an apparent suicide. Sean Michael Krause, an IT manager for the Polk County Tax Collector's Office, had been the subject of an urgent overnight search after investigators identified him from footage on a hidden camera discovered inside the agency's information technology building.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said deputies located Krause's body at 8:28 a.m. Tuesday, according to Tampa Free Press. The search began Monday after an employee found a small hidden camera tucked inside a disposable toilet seat cover dispenser in the women's restroom of the Tax Collector's IT building in Bartow, the outlet reported. That building operates separately from the agency's public-facing service centers and is restricted to staff, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office release cited by the Daily Ridge.
Camera Footage Led Investigators to Krause
A detective who examined the device's SD card found footage of a long-bearded man setting up the camera, and Tax Collector's Office staff identified that man as Krause, the agency's own IT manager for the facility, per the same account. The card reportedly contained multiple recordings of at least three women who were filmed without their knowledge. Krause had served as IT Application Development Manager for the Polk County Tax Collector's Office since August 2018, a role that placed him within the agency's broader Information Technologies division under Chief Information Officer Tim Murphy, according to background maintained by the Polk County Tax Collector's Office.
When deputies went to Krause's home in Lakeland, a witness told investigators that he had confessed to secretly recording coworkers in the bathroom, the article notes. Krause had returned home earlier that day, changed his shirt, gathered medication, and left his mobile phone behind before driving away, per the same account.
Overnight Search Ends in Colt Creek State Park
A park ranger spotted Krause's vehicle at approximately 8:25 p.m. Monday inside Colt Creek State Park, prompting deputies to search the area overnight, the Daily Ridge reported. Investigators found a small notebook containing a detailed suicide note inside his car before locating his body the following morning. Colt Creek State Park spans 5,067 acres of pine flatwoods, cypress domes, and lakes within the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve in northern Polk County, according to Visit Central Florida; the state acquired the land in 2006 and opened it to the public the following year.
Sheriff Calls Digital Voyeurism a Serious Crime
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said digital voyeurism is a serious crime and praised the Tax Collector's Office for taking immediate action, adding that deputies worked quickly to gather and review the evidence, per Tampa Free Press. Had he survived, investigators noted Krause would have faced multiple third-degree felony counts of digital voyeurism. Florida law was updated in 2024 when Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1389, renaming what was previously called video voyeurism to digital voyeurism and modernizing definitions to cover broader digital capture technology, according to The Capitolist.
Under Florida Statutes covering digital voyeurism, an offense committed by an adult aged 19 or older is classified as a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $5,000 per count, per Online Sunshine. State law also specifies that each individual instance of recording, viewing, or broadcasting a victim without consent constitutes a separate offense carrying its own independent felony penalty, according to a Florida Senate legislative analysis — which is why investigators indicated Krause would have faced multiple distinct counts stemming from the recordings of the three women.
The Polk County Tax Collector's Office is led by Tax Collector Joe G. Tedder, an elected official first chosen in 1996 who oversees service centers across Bartow, Lakeland, Davenport, and Lake Wales, according to agency background. The investigation remains open, and the Polk County Sheriff's Office is awaiting official cause-and-manner findings from the District 10 Medical Examiner's Office.
