Texas Principal Accused of Planting Camera in Locker Room
A principal is under investigation after she allegedly planted a hidden camera in the locker room of a Texas high school basketball team.
Prosecutors say Wendee Long, a principal at Wayside Middle School in Fort Worth, planted the camera to see how her daughters' new coach talked to the team after they complained to their mother the coach yelled too much.
Long's daughter, 17, got the camera into the locker room and hid it, prosecutors say. The daughter is not facing any charges and authorities say the camera didn't record anything inappropriate.
But Long was arrested Monday and faces charges of improper photography and wiretapping. If convicted, she could face a $25,000 fine or 20 years in prison. Long was released Tuesday on a $25,000 bond, according to ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.
"The intent is to invade someone's privacy," Denton County Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck said.
Long was caught after someone anonymously sent the video to the superintendent and several board members.
Long, 46, has been the principal at Wayside Middle School for five years in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw district. A district representative told WFAA that she has been placed on paid administrative leave and the school district will conduct its own investigation. Her daughters' school is in the Argyle district, where Long was previously a member of the school board.
Long's attorney, Daniel Peugh, said he is surprised and disappointed by the charges and maintains no laws were broken.
"She has not violated any law," Peugh wrote in a statement to WFAA. "We do not believe anything has taken place that should involve the justice system."
Julie Sheridan, whose daughter was in the locker room while the camera was recording, said, "I don't understand why someone would go to those lengths to break a law to try to get something to go the way they want it to go."
Long's daughters have already quit the basketball team.