More charges have been leveled against a high school employee accused of secretly recording theater students at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.
James Mulhern III, 43, of Clarksburg, was charged earlier this year with one count of sex abuse of a minor. Court records indicate he now faces seven more charges of sex abuse of a minor. A bond hearing will be held Wednesday afternoon in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville.
Mulhern’s employment status with the school district was not immediately clear on Wednesday. He had been on leave without pay since April, pending the outcome of the police investigation.
New information in court records includes details from an investigation by Montgomery County Police, who obtained search warrants for electronics seized from Mulhern’s home. They found images of female students at the high school, including some from a flash drive that stored hidden-camera videos taken in the school’s theater changing room.
As a media services technician at the school, Mulhern taught students about equipment and lighting. He also provided technical support for plays and musicals at the high school, according to court records.
A judge in April issued a $10,000 unsecured bond for Mulhern. Unsecured bonds don’t have to be paid unless the defendant fails to show up for a court hearing.
Investigators found searches for free pornographic videos of students in the search history of an iPhone seized from Mulhern. A Google search history also contained searches for “teen cleavage” and “girls of wj,” court records say.
The flash drive included 39 images, taken at the high school, that focused on the female students’ breasts. Investigators also found 15 hidden-camera videos on a flash drive, 11 of which were recorded within the high school’s theater changing room and costume storage room, according to court records.
Mulhern became a criminal suspect after two students found a video camera in a control booth at the school’s theater in April. School district staff notified police.
“One of the students viewed the contents of the memory card and saw videos recorded inside the girls’ changing room in the theater area,” police said in a news release.
One video showed a man placing a camera and leaving the room while it was recording. Shortly after, “teenage girls entered the room and began changing clothes for a theater performance,” police said.
When questioned by police, Mulhern initially denied wrongdoing but then acknowledged he was the man seen in screenshots setting up a camera in a changing room and then returning to turn it off.
He also told police he had an “attraction to multiple students while working at Walter Johnson High School,” court records said.
Banner reporter Talia Richman contributed to this story.




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