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A Montgomery County school employee faces charge of sex abuse of a minor

An employee at Walter Johnson High School in North Bethesda, Maryland, is charged with capturing images inside a girls’ changing room at the school.

James Mulhern III, a 43-year-old media technician at the high school, faces a charge of sex abuse of a minor in connection with the recorded images, according to Montgomery County police.

According to a news release from the police department, the images came to light after two students spotted a camera in a control booth at the high school’s theater.

One of the students reportedly discovered images of a man placing the camera in the girl’s changing room after viewing the images on the camera’s memory card. The same memory card also contained images of girls dressing for a theater performance in the girls’ changing room.

Police said the student who viewed the images mailed the videos to school principal Nicole Morgan.

Morgan notified parents in an email Thursday, and without naming Mulhern, said the employee implicated in the case had been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Morgan included a link to the Montgomery County police news release, which named Mulhern.

Police said that searches of the school and Mulhern’s Clarksburg home were carried out on Wednesday, and that items “of evidentiary value were recovered.”

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

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