Original Blog Entry: Teacher videotaped taking cash from students lockers

truesee — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:49:33 GMT

Video released showing Marion teacher creeping though locker room

The Associated Press

2:26 p.m. EDT

April 30, 2010

OCALA, Fla. Authorities today released a fuzzy copy of a cell-phone video from a student showing a Marion County teacher accused of swiping cash from students' lockers.

A spokeswoman for the Marion County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that the video shows him creeping through the locker room and rifling through students' belongings.

Steven Simmons, 49, was arrested Thursday on a grand-theft charge.

North Marion High students had complained for years that someone was stealing out of their lockers.

To catch the culprit, a student put his phone in one of the lockers in an otherwise empty locker room.

Authorities couldn't make a copy of the video from the phone, so they videotaped the phone as it played the video and released that.

Simmons, the physical education teacher, was arrested 20 minutes after students showed the phone recording to a school-resource officer.

The sheriff's office says Simmons admitted to stealing for years, taking some $400 so far this year.

Simmons offered no comment to reporters after he was released on $2,000 bail Thursday night.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/93f82e5e-b8aa-4f2a-b3b5-1bfa35467ad9/News/Marion-County-teacher-accused-of-swiping-cash-from-students-lockers

... [ More ]