Ex-AD Charged with Video Voyeurism

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Palm Beach Post (Florida)

 

The former athletic director at Palm Beach Gardens High School was arrested Monday on a charge of video voyeurism, after a year of reportedly watching a child in their bedroom through a camera hidden inside a digital clock.

Bill Weed gave the clock to the child as an unsolicited gift. The child learned about the hidden camera after an incident in February in which the clock started to emit static, similar to a baby monitor, police records state.

The child searched the clock and found it contained a camera. The seemingly harmless bedside item turned out to be a "Wi-Fi Mini Spy Camera Alarm Clock Nanny Cam" with motion-activated video and audio recording for home security and surveillance support. The camera — which retails for about $70 — reportedly has night vision and can be activated through a telephone or computer.

Weed, 50, denied to police knowing that the clock contained a camera. However, video footage reportedly shows him adjusting the camera with his smartphone in his hand. The application to access the camera was visible on his phone, and the camera only takes still photos if manually directed to do so through the application, said police, who found dozens of photos of the child on the camera.

Weed, a veteran track and cross country coach at the school, has been placed on alternate assignment but remains employed with the school district, a school spokeswoman said Monday. Officials have stressed that the alleged video voyeurism did not occur on campus.

"We are disappointed when any employee faces criminal charges, and it is particularly disheartening when the allegations involve a crime against a minor. At this time, it does not appear that the individual used his professional role to exploit students at his school," the district said in a statement released late Monday. The district said it is continuing its own investigation into the case.

Repeated attempts to contact Weed for comment since the allegations surfaced this past month have been unsuccessful. Some students leaving campus Monday said they and others knew him from his time in the stands at athletic events. Others said they had only seen him in passing.

One girl who asked that her name not be published said the way Weed reacted around young women struck some of her classmates as strange. She said he would contact them away from school through Snapchat, the popular social-media smartphone app.

Another student, Andrea Rodriguez, said she never really interacted with Weed but that the idea of a school official recording someone without permission is "messed up." She said some of her friends knew him and were surprised at the reports.

The relationship between Weed and the child is redacted in the arrest report. However, records indicate Weed had access to the child's bedroom.

After discovering the clock contained a camera, the child notified police, who found a micro SD memory card with 35 pictures and 149 videos on it. The images show the child in various stages of undress, including some in which the child is fully nude. In others the child is asleep.

In March, police searched Weed's rented home in a gated neighborhood at PGA National and seized computers and electronic devices belonging to him. Authorities also retrieved photos, videos and cellphone applications, court records show. He appeared to have disabled one phone and reset another prior to police searching the house.

Police concluded that Weed placed the camera "for his own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal or gratification." The arrest report notes that the camera was placed in a room in which the child expected to have privacy.

Besides video voyeurism, Weed also faces a charge of unlawfully using a two-way communication device. He is expected to appear before a judge for the first time this morning if he did not bond out of the Palm Beach County Jail overnight.

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May 2, 2017
 
 
 

 

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