Andrew Emmons, the Boonville Middle School teacher accused of placing a hidden camera inside a faculty restroom, officially turned in his resignation Oct. 4.
“This has been a very difficult thing,” said Schneider. “The staff at Boonville Middle School has handled this very well. But it is tough. This is a violation of people’s privacy and it was done by a co-worker, someone you should be able to trust.”
Schneider confirmed multiple victims had been secretly videotaped, but said he could not discuss the total number or their ages.
“While Mr. Emmons has resigned and his employment is terminated, this is still an ongoing investigation with law enforcement,” Schneider said. “As far as I know, there was just one camera. But as far as locations, I can’t comment on that at this time.”
A Boonville Middle School female staff member found a camera Sept. 13 and reported it to the school’s principal, William Wilder. The police were contacted, and officers and Wilder attempted to see what images the camera had captured.
“They played the video, and it’s my understanding that video actually showed the perpetrator placing the camera in the faculty restroom,” Schneider said.
Emmons had been a sixth-grade teacher at the school. He had been suspended without pay since the recording device was discovered. All of the victims have now been notified.
“I can tell people this: If they have not been notified by law enforcement or school officials, then their child or their spouse or whoever is not a victim,” Schneider said. “We have notified the victims, and informed them that they had been found on video of some sort.”
Schneider said the school corporation had its school counselors ready to help any of the victims, and would provide any resources necessary. He said the school’s staff has been working to make school days as normal as possible.
“Obviously, when charges are filed, that is going to open this up again,” he said. “Everyone is doing as well as can be expected. But this leaves a black eye on the school, the school corporation and the town.”
Emmons and his attorney met with Schneider on Oct. 3 to review the matter. As a result of that conference, Schneider sent a written recommendation to the school board to terminate Emmons’ contract. However, Emmons resigned the following day. Schneider is now in the process of notifying the state to request Emmons’ teaching license be revoked.
No criminal charges have been filed against Emmons, but Schneider said he expects charges to be filed soon. When that happens, Schneider hopes to be able to fully explain all of the details of the case. He said it has been difficult not being able to be completely open.
“I look forward to the day that we can come out with law enforcement and talk about the specifics of it, and we will,” he said. “I do understand parents’ and community members’ frustration. I promise we are doing everything we possibly can. We want to do everything we can so the perpetrator of this crime can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
A New Jersey family who spent its summer vacation in New York’s East Hampton was shocked to find their luxury rental studded with hidden cameras, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The family claimed in court documents that they noticed cameras pointing directly at the beds in multiple bedrooms in the house when they were four days into their weeklong rental.
They allege that all nine members of the family who stayed at the home, including three young children, were filmed in the nude, in addition to the “bedroom activities” of the adults.
The family members are referred to only by their initials in the court documents in order to protect the identities of three minors who were filmed, according to the suit. Judd Burstein, attorney for the plaintiffs, said they wished to remain anonymous.
East Hampton police would not confirm reports that they are investigating criminal charges against Donald Torr, the owner of the home. The lawsuit alleges that Torr broke federal laws by filming sexually explicit footage of the minors, in addition to privacy laws.
Torr, a resident of Celebration, Fla., declined to speak with ABC News when reached by phone today. He told the New York Post that the cameras were installed to prevent squatters and others who might break into the home, and did not know children had been filmed.
According to court documents, the vacationers called Suffolk County police, who searched the home the following day with a search warrant and found cameras hidden in walls, heating and air conditioning ducts, and electrical outlets and pointed directly at guests in the shower, hot tub area and multiple bedrooms, according to the lawsuit.
Torr allegedly admitted to viewing all of the cameras’ footage over an internet connection when the family confronted him with a phone call.
“Defendant admitted that he was able to view any video that was recorded remotely through the internet,” the document reads. “Defendant, whoever, falsely claimed that all of the cameras, including those pointed towards beds and the one in the shower, had been installed only for security purposes.”
The family packed up and left their rental three days early, and were refunded their money by Torr, according to documents. The rental cost $6,500 for the week, according to the rental website.
The family is now seeking more than $4 million in damages.
The Suffolk County district attorney did not return calls for comment.
UNION CITY, Tenn.—A tanning salon employee says his iPhone just happened to be hidden on a ledge near the ceiling. A woman who was tanning in a private booth says she found the phone with the camera on and pointed toward her.
Police charged Dustin Lee Swinney, 23, of Union City, Tennessee with unlawful photography in violation of privacy. He’s now out of job and sharing his side of a story that even he admits is hard to believe.
He claims he used the camera phone to look for dirt while cleaning the ledge that he couldn’t normally see, and that he accidentally left the camera on, and pointed toward the tanning bed.
His boss, coworker, and police aren’t buying that story. Local 6 gave him the chance to explain.
He says it’s pure coincidence that his iPhone camera was on and in the perfect spot to catch the unsuspecting woman as she tanned.
He said he used his phone’s camera feature to look for candy wrappers atop the ledge.
He said he was recording because that’s the only way to use the flash.
But the flash on our iPhone works just fine when not recording.
“Well maybe I just don’t know my iPhone well enough to know that,” Swinney said.
The victim snatched the phone from the ledge and took it out to the parking lot where she watched the video and called police. That’s when Dustin Swinney came out to the parking lot and said he would delete all the video if she gave back the phone.
Union City Interim Police Chief Perry Barfield said the woman did the right thing by not handing over the phone.
“He probably thought he could cover up his tracks by getting the phone and possibly deleting images from the phone,” Barfield said.
“It was an accident, I’m sorry. I’m sorry it happened the way it did,” Swinney said.
Swinney told Local 6 while most people don’t believe him, his girlfriend and parents do. Right now he’s depending on support from his church and looking for another job.
Police fear there could be others but confiscated his phone and his laptop and say they couldn’t find any other video. They hope this was an isolated incident. The owner of tunnel tanning released this statement;
Upon learning of the allegations, Mr. Swinney’s employment was immediately terminated. We are also cooperating fully with the Union City Police Department in their investigation.
A long awaited meeting between school administration, the board of education and the public to air out details of the cameras found hidden in Valdez High School and Gilson Junior High will be held Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Valdez High School cafeteria.
“Obviously we need to talk about some lessons learned,” Jacob Jensen, district superintendent, said during Monday night’s school board meeting. “I think sooner would be better.”
School board member Anita Fannin, who appeared at the meeting telephonically, asked to hear a synopsis of the investigation surrounding the April 17 discovery.
Jensen declined, citing a need by administration to consult further with the district’s legal council before issuing a final report.
Earlier during Monday night’s meeting, teacher Kip Norris expressed frustration that the issue had not yet been address by the board.
“This camera business started nearly a month ago now” he said, “That’s in my workplace and I’m concerned about that.”
Norris and other educators at Gilson Junior High were shocked and outraged to learn janitorial supervisors had planted a hidden camera in the ceiling tiles of the teacher lounge above a computer workplace, ostensibly in hopes of catching janitors goofing off on the computer rather than working. Outrage spread when a second camera hidden in a clock was discovered in a custodial closet at Valdez High School. It was later learned the same camera had been located in the teacher lounge at the junior high days before it was found at the high school.
“The silence concerns me,” Norris said. “I think an open, frank discussion would be a beneficial thing.”
Norris expressed these concerns during the meeting when the board hears public comments on items not on its agenda and board members are allowed to respond to the comments at the time of testimony.
“It’s a big deal,” Norris said.
At least one parent was also concerned and frustrated by a lack of progress on the issue.
“I agree with Mr. Norris,” parent Ruth Black told the board. “I don’t see you guys taking this seriously.”
Black expressed disappointment at the amount of time that has lapsed since the discovery of the cameras and a board response, and also criticized the district for not notifying parents of the discovery and instead allowing them to learn of the scandal from news sources.
“You did not communicate directly with the parents at all,” Black said.
An investigation by Valdez police found no evidence of a crime or images of students on the numerous video discs and computer images. However, the fact that cameras had been hidden in the teacher lounge caused great concern amongst educators due to the fact that some state standards testing had occurred in the lounge.
The fact the board canceled its scheduled meeting of April 23 due to a lack of a quorum did little to reassure outraged faculty members and concerned parents that the privacy of teachers and students had not been violated.
Custodian Supervisor John Vergere and custodian Steve Winn tendered their resignations to Jensen Friday morning, April 20.
Valdez Star File Photo
GJH principal, Rod Morrison, points to where a clock that contained a hidden spy camera was positioned inside a VHS closet.
Further dismissals could be forthcoming according to sources close to the district that have not been authorized to discuss the matter in public.
Jensen said he was first shocked and then outraged when GJH principal Rod Morrison called him at home evening Tuesday, April 17 saying a custodian had called him reporting what she believed to be a camera lens hidden in a ceiling tile at the school.
The discovery of the second camera and the fact it had been placed in more than one location fueled speculation of a wider hidden-camera problem in the schools. The fact the computers that were hooked up to the cameras were in Jensen’s possession overnight before they were turned over to police did little to reassure outraged school staff.
The long awaited work session will be held at 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 21 at the cafeteria of Valdez High School.
A fallen air freshener and a Superman mouse pad led to an Indiana pastor’s fall from grace. Robert Lyzenga, 55, is accused of hiding cameras inside women’s toilet stalls at his church, the Lafayette Journal and Courier reports.
A female church member exposed the pastor’s secret after an air freshener in a toilet stall fell to the floor, revealing a camera inside. She found two other fake air fresheners in adjacent stalls, one of which also contained a camera, according to an affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun.
When investigators checked the cameras’ contents, they found video of two women and a girl using the restroom. But the cameras had also captured other images that led detectives to the pastor’s door.
The hidden cameras contained video clips of someone setting up the cameras in some sort of office. So sheriff’s deputies went back to the church, where Pastor Robert Lyzenga offered to show them around.
Lyzenga led investigators to several church offices, but none matched what was seen in the video. Deputies then asked to see Lyzenga’s office, which made the pastor “very nervous,” the affidavit said.
Lo and behold, Lyzenga’s office allegedly matched the one seen in the hidden camera video. The pastor’s pencil cup and a Superman mouse pad were dead giveaways, investigators said.
Lyzenga was arrested on suspicion of voyeurism and released after posting bond the same day, according to the Journal and Courier. If he’s formally charged with felony voyeurism and convicted, Lyzenga could face up to three years in prison.
After Pastor Robert Lyzenga’s arrest for the hidden cameras, he was suspended from his church, which he’s led since 2002. Lyzenga is a father of three and has been married for 30 years, The Smoking Gun reports.
