A former coach in Tennessee was sentenced to more than two decades in prison for recording images of girls with a hidden camera.
Andrew Halford, 34, was sentenced to 24 years in prison Friday in Carthage, Tenn., in a plea deal.
“We believed at the sentencing hearing, whether that came at the end of a trial, or at the end of a plea, either way, that 24 years was going to be the sentence that he received in this case, and so there was really no reason to go to trial in the case, and have the victims go through that,” District Attorney Jason Lawson said, as reported by WKRN-TV.
Former Middle TN cheer coach sentenced to 24 years for secretly recording young girls https://t.co/iQKEPoGAfd
— WKRN News 2 (@WKRN) October 28, 2022
Halford was a tumbling coach at Elite Cheerleading and Gymnastics in Carthage, as well as Premier Athletics in Franklin. He was indicted in April 2021 on a dozen charges after investigators say he confessed to hiding a GoPro camera in the bathroom at Premier Athletics for several months: from August 2020 to January 2021.
Franklin police said the camera at Premier Athletics had footage that revealed 60 victims recorded on the camera — most of them minors.
In the end, the prosecution and defense agreed that whether the case went to court or trial the result would be the same.
WKRN-TV reported that Halford faces more charges in Williamson County.
