WAKAYAMA (TR) – Wakayama Prefectural Police have arrested a teacher at an elementary school for allegedly planting a hidden camera in a locker room for girls at the school, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Aug. 12).
On around July 1, Masaaki Yamamoto, a teacher at the Inahara Elementary School, allegedly planted a camera inside a clock inside the girl’s locker room of the gymnasium to take tosatsu, or voyeur, footage.
Yamamoto, who has been accused of violating a prefectural public nuisance ordinance, denies the allegation. “I just put the clock in place,” the suspect was quoted by the Gobo Police Station. “Taking photographs was not my intention.”
In the middle of last month, officers working off an anonymous tip from a person connected to the school and inspected a hard disk belonging to the suspect.
Photographs and videos of girls changing inside the locker room, likely shot with a different camera, were found on the disk, police said.
According to the local board of education, Yamamoto is in his third year at the school. A member of the board offered an apology.
“In seeking to prevent a recurrence, we have instructed staff to carry out inspections at the school and hold discussions,” the member said.
