A MARRIED headmaster allegedly set up cameras in the girls locker rooms before watching them undress on a livestream, according to a criminal complaint.
Eric James, 53, was arrested over allegations he installed four hidden recorders while he was principal at Brooke High School in West Virginia.
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He is being sued by 11 students over the alleged secret filming.
The devices were found at the school in Wellsburg, Brooke County, on September 2 after a custodian discovered a device that looked like an ink pen.
They initially realised it was a recording device before immediately alerting authorities.
Police rushed to the scene and found two cameras in the dance team’s changing space, one in the varsity locker room and a fourth in the P.E. changing facilities.
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Investigators identified James as the suspect before arresting him on September 3.
One of the children from a previous school said the teacher would “wait for her at the locker room door, let her in, and then disappear”, according to a criminal complaint.
The student believed James was “disappearing to go view the live camera footage” while she changed inside.
Eight students filed a class action lawsuit together last week, before another three filed civil complaints, the Daily Mail reported.
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Another one of the accusers who attended a different school said she had to use the locker rooms at Brooke High School during an away sports fixture.
She alleged James would view the camera footage while the girl was inside the locker room, the complaint says.
One student aged 17 who attended Brooke High claimed she “reasonably believes” James caught her undressing on livestream through one of his alleged hidden cameras.
Reports and complaints were made concerning the educator’s conduct while he taught at another school, Cameron High, between 2000 and 2018, one of the accusers claims.
All three civil lawsuits and the class action lawsuit are asking for monetary damages to be determined by a jury.
The class action says: “The resulting invasion of the bodily privacy of Plaintiffs and other students was not momentary.
“Every day that the devices remained concealed and operational exposed children to additional secret observation and recording.”
James was suspended last Wednesday and is being held in the Northern Regional Jail on a £75,000 bond.
The teacher has been charged with two counts of breaking and entering and one count related to intercepting electronic communications.
He is scheduled to appear in court on September 16.
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