Gutowski admitted to police that he had taken pictures of minor students in his classroom that he found attractive and paid one former student – then an adult – to send him pornographic images. — Image by Freepik
CLAYTON: A former high school orchestra teacher in the Rockwood School District is now accused by at least five women of setting up a secret camera in his home and school office to film women and girls, some of whom were undressed, according to several new lawsuits and federal charges.
The women – two house guests, a babysitter and two foreign exchange students – have all filed lawsuits against Joseph Gutowski, 41, in the past four months. He was also charged in federal court in May with two new counts related to child pornography.
Gutowski is accused of secretly filming students in his school office and women in several rooms in his home, paying a recent graduate for nude photos and then sharing some of the footage in an underground online community dedicated to child pornography and voyeurism, federal prosecutors wrote in a detention motion.
Gutowski was initially charged last December with sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of child pornography after prosecutors said he secretly filmed sexually explicit videos of a 16-year-old foreign exchange student who was staying in his home. He had been fired earlier that month after more than 15 years as a teacher at Lafayette High School in Wildwood.
But five lawsuits and federal charges filed over the past six months reveal several more accusations of abuse.
“This man is a monster,” said attorney Robert Schultz, who represents the five women suing Gutowski. He said he plans to file several more suits alleging similar conduct.
An attorney for Gutowski did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Mary LaPak, a spokesperson for the Rockwood School District, said in a statement on Tuesday that the district “is not aware of any criminal actions that took place on Rockwood property and we have not received any reports of students being filmed at school by this individual, who is no longer an employee of the Rockwood School District”.
Prosecutors laid out some of the evidence in a motion asking for Gutowski to be held in custody pending trial. According to that document:
Gutowski first told both the school and St. Louis County police in November 2022 that he was having inappropriate relationships with students after his girlfriend found evidence of his recordings and reported him to police.
He was interviewed by police and admitted he was addicted to pornography and was part of an “underground” online voyeurism and child pornography community called “Club Creep”.
He then admitted to police that he had taken pictures of minor students in his classroom that he found attractive and paid one former student – then an adult – to send him pornographic images.
Gutowski also told investigators over multiple interviews that he filmed two foreign exchange students who were staying in his home, including a minor 16-year-old girl who lived with him in 2019 through 2020.
Gutowski’s girlfriend and ex-wife turned over Gutowski’s electronics to police on Nov 29, 2022, but Gutowski is accused in the detention motion of attempting to delete all evidence of the pornographic material before police got the devices.
In all, investigators found 260 videos of the 16-year-old foreign exchange student on Gutowski’s devices, including nine sexually explicit videos, the motion alleges. The videos included 64 he is accused of filming himself with secret cameras in both his school office and in multiple locations of his home, along with data from images, videos and messages he allegedly pulled from the teen’s cellphone.
The teen submitted a letter describing the traumatic impact the case had on her life.
“I was a 16-year-old girl, coming from Germany to stay with Joseph thinking I would live in a safe home,” she wrote.
She added that Gutowski also made inappropriate comments asking questions about sex to her and other minors.
“Joe did not give me a say in any of his bad decisions,” she wrote. “Joe did not give me the chance to speak up and stand up for myself... I was not given chances in this whole matter, and neither should Joseph.”
She wrote she was unable to be alone or focus on her schoolwork after finding out about the footage.
“I gained anxiety, depression, trust issues and I was broken by a man who I believed was a good man,” she wrote. “I know that this feeling of someone constantly watching me will never go away.”
The district’s superintendent, Curtis Cain, sent an email to parents when Gutowski was initially charged in December 2022.
“Today, we learned from the St. Louis County Police that they have charged a former LHS teacher with multiple charges related to child pornography and sexual misconduct,” he wrote. “At this time, there is no indication that the allegations are related to any current Rockwood students.”
Cain continued: “I know that any allegation of this type is very troubling news to process, and we share your concern as parents and educators. I am truly sorry that our community will be impacted by this negative news.”
Gutowski taught at Rockwood from August 2006 through December 2022. He remains in federal custody in the Ste. Genevieve County Jail.
In two of the civil suits, Gutowski’s attorney Matthew Radefeld wrote in filings that the former teacher had no desire or funds to defend himself against the suit. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service
