Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Foley’s home on Sept 20, where authorities said he admitted to taking explicit videos of female students in school classrooms and hallways. — Image by Freepik
While employed as a high school chemistry teacher, an Ohio man secretly took thousands of videos up the skirts and shorts of female students on campus, authorities said.
Justin Foley, of Delaware, also used hidden cameras to take videos while unsuspecting females were changing in dressing rooms, according to a criminal complaint filed Nov 8 in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
The now-former teacher was federally charged with sexually exploiting minors and distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, according to a Nov 9 news release. He worked for Columbus Alternative High School at the time of the alleged offenses.
McClatchy News reached out to Foley’s defense attorney on Nov 9 and did not immediately hear back.
The Delaware Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding 46 images “of apparent child pornography” uploaded by a Google email account used by Foley in August, according to an affidavit. An investigation revealed Foley had also uploaded more explicit photos using another one of his email addresses.
Authorities obtained search warrants for both Google email accounts and found “numerous media files depicting child sexual abuse material,” officials said. Many videos “appeared to be self-produced” in central Ohio department stores, Delaware public areas and dressing rooms.
The females appeared unaware they were being recorded, officials said, as they were in “various stages of nudity.” The females were of varying ages.
Other videos appeared to have been taken at Columbus Alternative High School, officials said.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Foley’s home on Sept 20, where authorities said he admitted to taking explicit videos of female students in school classrooms and hallways. The 47-year-old man also admitted recording up the skirts of females at local stores.
Foley had taken “tens of thousands of explicit videos”, according to the news release. Some of his most recent videos were taken at the school the week before investigators executed the search warrant, authorities said.
In one example, authorities said a 15-year-old girl was wearing shorts when Foley tried recording up her clothes while walking behind her. He also had videos where the camera was positioned in front of her school desk “at an angle where her legs and genital area are the focus of the video” while she wore skirts and shorts.
In an Oct 5 news release, Columbus City Schools’ said the Board of Education had voted to terminate Foley’s employment and that they accepted his letter of resignation.
If convicted of the charges, Foley faces up to 50 years in prison. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
