Fair Grove teens could face charges in filming incident

The Fair Grove Police Department is recommending charges against three male teens suspected of filming female band members as they changed clothes or of sharing the images.

Police Chief Adam Mallory has requested felony invasion of privacy charges against Alexander Schneider, 17, who has been arrested, and two 16-year-old male juveniles whose names have not been released.

"We've completed the investigation," Mallory said. "We were able to get the evidence we need."

Mallory forwarded reports this week to the Greene County Prosecutor, who will determine if Schneider will face a charge, and the Greene County Juvenile Office, which will determine if charges are filed against the juveniles.

If charged and convicted of a Class D felony, the older student may face up to five years in prison, one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. It's unclear what penalties the juveniles may face.

With the two-week investigation closed, Mallory was also able to finally provide details about what happened during the early October incident and what work was done to determine who was likely responsible.

Fair Grove High School has a large, coed band and it's not uncommon for female band members to go into small, windowless rooms that lock to change clothes after practices and performances.

During one of those post-practice changing periods, a student's concealed cell phone captured images of the girls changing. "The main image was a topless female," Mallory said.

He said at least some of those images were shared with other male students. A total of six cell phones were confiscated and searched during the investigation.

A student who saw or heard about the images reported the incident to the band director during the first weekend of October. The top school officials were quickly informed and Superintendent John Link called the police.

Link and other top administrators called each individual who was likely involved including those suspected of taking, sharing and viewing the images and the female students who were likely filmed.

A total of eight male students, including the three under criminal investigation, were suspended. Seven have returned to class and the other, who was given a longer suspension, will return shortly.

Link said "we want a lesson to be learned" but he didn't want to bar students from school for so long that their ability to graduate would be in jeopardy. Some male students also lost the ability to participate in school clubs and activities this year.

"As far as the school, we've kind of closed the book on it and are moving forward," said Link, adding that no more discipline is expected stemming from the incident. "The students, for the most part, are back in the swing of things."

Mallory has previously said the images of up to 10 female band students were captured. "The victims in this case didn't have any idea this was going on until it came out," he said.

He confirmed that the incident was isolated and the images were not placed on the Internet.

Initially, Mallory hoped to have the investigation wrapped up in a week but it took a while for a technology expert to retrieve the images from the cell phones. "We were waiting on the evidence we received from forensics," he said.

Link said while female students had a reasonable expectation of privacy while changing in the band practice room, changes have been made.

"We've told everybody now if you want to change clothes, you go to a secure location, a restroom or locker room," he said.

Link said this has been difficult for the female band students involved and the male students who made a "bad decision" needed to be disciplined. But he is hopeful that with nearly everybody involved back in class, the school can move forward.

"These young men have defiled a trust with their peers," he said. "They know they have some relationships to mend."