A New Jersey educator is facing criminal charges after he was accused of secretly videotaping students in a shower at a school. Patrick Lott, the 54-year-old assistant principal at Bernardsville Middle School in Somerville, New Jersey, was arrested last month after these accusations came to light.
According to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, Lott allegedly installed a video camera in the boys' showers at the Immaculata High School in Somerville. Lott served as a coach and a volunteer at the school. He was arrested after the footage of nude teenagers in the shower was found in his home during a search conducted by investigators from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit. The video apparently showed teenagers aged 16 and under in a communal shower area. Investigators later found the camera that had been secretly installed near the shower.
The charges that Lott faces are very serious and include 22 charges of invasion of privacy and 22 charges of endangering the welfare of a child. His bail has been set at $500,000. His family has found it difficult to post bail for him. The court has also ordered that he avoid contact with anyone under the age of 16, so even if he does post bail, he will not be able to go back to work.
Lott had a good reputation as a part-time coach and videographer at Immaculata High School. That reputation stands to be destroyed because of the sex crime charges that he faces.
The New Jersey criminal defense lawyers at Helmer Paul Conley and Kasselman represent persons who have been charged with DUI, murder, fraud, assault, drug crimes, sex crimes and other crimes across New Jersey.
