A grocery store chain on Vancouver Island and a former assistant manager have reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by employees who were secretly recorded in a workplace bathroom. The disturbing case involved hidden cameras and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
The Details of the Case
The lawsuit was filed against Red Barn Market and former employee Matthew Schwabe. Schwabe, who is the son of one of the grocery chain's owners at the time, placed a hidden camera in a washroom at the Red Barn Market location in Saanich. He used it to record women using the toilet and in various states of undress.
Schwabe then uploaded the surreptitious recordings to a Russian "revenge pornography" website. To compound the violation, he paired the videos with identifying information about the victims. This included screenshots from their Facebook profiles, their first or last names, and indications they were from Victoria.
Criminal Conviction and Civil Settlement
In a related criminal case, Matthew Schwabe pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully observing and recording eight women in a place where they could reasonably be expected to be nude. He also pleaded guilty to knowingly publishing intimate images of nine women on pornography websites without their consent. The offences occurred between June 2012 and June 2016.
In November 2021, Schwabe was sentenced to 15 months in jail, followed by two years of probation. The civil class-action lawsuit was settled separately on December 8, 2025, as confirmed by the plaintiffs' lawyer, Kevin Smith.
Terms of the Class-Action Resolution
Smith did not disclose the exact financial amount of the settlement but described it as "substantial." The settlement involved payouts to six individuals. A sum was paid to five victims who were both recorded and had their images distributed online. A separate sum was paid to one person who was recorded, but where no evidence was found of the images being shared online.
In a meaningful gesture, the five victims whose images were distributed online intend to make a donation to a charity supporting survivors of sexual abuse. This donation will be made in honour of seven other victims who were recorded but could never be identified.
Plaintiffs Jennifer Burke and Mallory Colter stated through their lawyers that they launched the lawsuit to seek justice and accountability, not only for themselves but for all those harmed by Schwabe's actions.
