Manhattan D114 Teacher's Phone Searched, Police Won't Reopen Investigation: Report

MANHATTAN, IL — A Manhattan District 114 teacher accused of violating district policy but cleared of criminal charges submitted to a police interview and allowed police to search his phone last week, according to police documents.

The physical education teacher at Manhattan Jr. High School was escorted off school property and placed on paid leave March 5, amidst allegations he had violated district policy. District officials said they would conduct an internal investigation into the teacher's conduct to determine next steps. Two days later, he was also under investigation by Manhattan Police to determine if the allegations warranted criminal charges. The investigation concluded a week later, with no criminal charges issued.

Citing a personnel matter, district officials have consistently declined to identify the employee, their role within the district, and the subject matter of the allegation. Patch does not name someone under investigation unless or until they are formally charged. Sources close to the incident have confirmed the teacher's identity to Patch. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District 114 Board of Education on March 12 voted not to renew the contract of a physical education teacher at Manhattan Jr. High.

On March 4, a sixth grader told staff at Manhattan Jr. High that they were "feeling uncomfortable when teacher [name redacted] was recording the student exercising in gym class," the report states. It was in response to that student's report, District officials said, that the teacher was escorted from the school on March 5, and subsequently placed on paid leave while an internal investigation is conducted. The status of that investigation was unclear as of March 19. Director of District Development & Communications Kim Maher on March 19 said the board will discuss next steps in closed session at its April 9 meeting.

Following the teacher being placed on leave, an additional report surfaced on March 7, prompting police involvement. A student told their parent they believed the same teacher had recorded them and classmates changing clothes in the locker room, "on several dates throughout the year," the report states. The teacher, the student claimed, had "positioned the phone on top of lockers" across from where they were changing. Both parents of the student said they were not certain if the phone had been recording or photographing at the time.

The teacher initially did not respond to police inquiries, but after Manhattan Patch coverage of the case, on March 21 complied with requests for an interview.

The teacher told police that he "wasn’t intentionally being uncooperative," in not responding to police contact, but that he had been following legal advice.

At question in the police investigation was whether the teacher had violated 720 ILCS 5/26-4, Unauthorized Video Recording. In Illinois, it is illegal to knowingly make a video record or transmit live video of another person without that person's consent in a restroom, tanning bed, tanning salon, locker room, changing room or hotel bedroom, according to the Illinois General Assembly website.

According to the report, the teacher on March 21 showed officers the video that spurred district officials placing him on leave—footage of students exercising in the gymnasium.

He denied having recorded students while in any bathroom or locker room, according to the report.

The teacher "admitted that he may have used his cell phone while in the locker room around students, but it was never recording."

The teacher unlocked the phone and displayed each of the 72 videos stored in it, as well as his recently deleted files, the report notes.

"As he navigated through each video, no videos depicted a scene or area with children or students in a washroom, locker room or similar forbidden location," Detective Jeff Studlow detailed in a report. "He also unlocked his deleted file and navigated through all his recently deleted videos and images. I did not observe any inappropriate images or videos in his deleted file."

The investigation remains closed, police said.