A Maryland high school employee was arrested after being accused of filming students undressing in a girls changing room.
James Mulhern III, a media services technician at Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County, was filmed placing a camera in the girls changing room in the school theater shortly before several teenage girls went in to change before a performance, according to WUSA 9.
School employees called the police Wednesday after two students discovered the camera in the theater’s control booth and alerted the principal. The video showed recordings of girls undressing in the changing room.
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The memory card on the camera also recorded a man placing the camera in the room before the students went in to change, according to a news release by the Montgomery County Department of Police.
Detectives said they recovered several items of evidence at the high school and after searching Mulhern’s home.
Mulhern was arrested and charged with sex abuse of a minor, police said. He was sent to a detention center, where he is awaiting a bond hearing.
Court documents obtained by WUSA say Mulhern initially denied to police he had recorded students but later admitted to “having [an] inappropriate attraction to multiple students” while working at the high school.
Montgomery County Public Schools shared a letter with Fox News Digital that was sent to parents, students and staff on Thursday by Walter Johnson High School Principal Nicole J. Morgan.
In the letter, Morgan said the employee had been placed on leave without pay while the investigation was underway.
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“School administrators were made aware of an incident on Wednesday, April 15, and immediately reported it to MCPD. This is an MCPS staff personnel matter and a police investigation; therefore, the information that can be shared is very limited,” the letter said.
Morgan said school counselors, psychologists and social workers would be available to provide support to students.
A Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation. Because this involves a confidential personnel matter, we are unable to disclose further details at this time.”
Walter Johnson High School student Gage Familant told WUSA9 students were disgusted after learning the news.
“People are calling it disgusting. That’s what it is, heartbreaking,” Familant said.
