Teacher records kids, teens with cameras hidden in school bathrooms for years, feds say
A former teacher is going to prison after federal prosecutors said he recorded children, teens and adults with cameras he installed inside bathrooms at a California high school over a span of three years.
Siu Kong Sit, who taught at Beckman High School in Irvine, hid cameras disguised as smoke detectors inside two single-occupancy bathrooms located by the school’s aquatic center, according to court documents.
The restrooms were used by students, staff and for children’s swim meets, court documents say.
A plumber found one of the cameras underneath a bathroom sink when he checked a smoke detector that looked “unusual” in February 2023, according to an affidavit. Then the plumber found the second camera in the other bathroom, under the sink, the affidavit says.
“From 2020 to 2023, Sit viewed and downloaded hundreds of images of children and adults, in various states of undress, using restrooms,” prosecutors said.
Some of the children were younger than 12, according to officials.
In May 2022, as the high school’s robotics coach, Sit also hid a camera inside a hotel room bathroom as students stayed there for a robotics tournament in Texas, according to prosecutors.
Now, a judge has sentenced Sit, 38, of Rowland Heights, to 17 years and six months in prison for possessing child sexual abuse material, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of California said in a Sept. 10 news release.
Sit’s criminal defense attorney didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 11.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada called Sit “every parent’s nightmare.”
“Rather than care for the safety and well-being of students, he exploited them in the most abhorrent way,” Estrada said in a statement.
Sit’s sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography on March 29, according to prosecutors.
After the cameras were located at the high school, authorities seized Sit’s digital devices from his house and the external hard drives from the two cameras he hid at the high school, prosecutors said.
A hard drive Sit owned had at least 22 images that were seized by authorities, along with one video of child sex abuse material, according to prosecutors, who said some of the images showed a toddler.
“The search of a separate Sit-owned hard drive contained at least 150 images and four videos of (child sexual abuse material),” prosecutors said.
Ahead of sentencing, Sit’s attorney, Robert Darren Cornforth, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Sit “had a purpose in life to be the best teacher he could.”
“He regrets his conduct in this case tremendously,” Cornforth said.
According to prosecutors, one of Sit’s victims wrote in a statement that his “sense of safety has been destroyed.”
“The victim’s mother describes ‘depression, anxiety, stress, (and) distrust,’ as well as ‘panic attacks, worry, fear (and) hyper vigilance,’ adding that her son was forced to transfer out of his school district to escape the trauma inflicted by (Sit),” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Criminal charges will be pursued against Sit by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in connection with the videos he secretly recorded of adults, prosecutors said.
Sit’s federal prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, according to prosecutors. A restitution hearing is set for Nov. 8.
This story was originally published September 11, 2024 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Teacher records kids, teens with cameras hidden in school bathrooms for years, feds say."
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