Former CEO of Schubas, Lincoln Hall pleads guilty to secretly recording nanny, others in the nude

The former CEO and president of Schubas Tavern and Lincoln Hall has pleaded guilty to secretly recording nude images of three women using hidden cameras.

Michael Johnston, 39, pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 to a count of unauthorized videotaping in three separate cases, according to court records.

Judge Lawrence Flood sentenced Johnston to two years of probation and 50 hours of community service, records show.

An attorney for Johnston said his client declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.

Johnston co-founded the music label Audiotree and purchased Schubas and Lincoln Hall in 2015 with his father William Johnston. Michael Johnston was fired as CEO and president last year, days after he was criminally charged.

His former nanny, identified in court as Jane Doe, also sued Michael Johnston and his wife, Kelly Johnston seeking more than $75,000 in damages. The nanny alleged the couple hired her and invited her to use private areas of the house, where she was filmed naked by hidden cameras.

The lawsuit stated that two weeks after the woman was hired in 2019, Kelly Johnston instructed her to organize a box in a bedroom closet that contained sex toys, making the woman feel “extremely uncomfortable.”

Before the couple left the woman to watch their home while they were out of town, Kelly Johnston encouraged the nanny and her friend to use a jacuzzi bathtub in the master bathroom. The nanny later found hidden cameras after she noticed one of them in a picture frame pointed at a bathtub, the suit stated.

Video from the camera showed Michael Johnston standing in the bathtub and reviewing the video on a cellphone to make sure it was positioned properly, the lawsuit stated.

An attorney representing two women in civil suits against Johnston and his wife said both were still pending Tuesday.

Via their attorney, the women declined to comment on the outcome of the criminal case.