Apr 29, 2013 11:50 AM
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A Westhampton Beach teacher charged with recording middle school-aged girls in a gym locker room pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Riverhead courtroom on Monday morning.
Thomas Sheppard, 27, of Speonk pleaded not guilty to all counts at the Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead, during an arraignment on one felony count of second-degree unlawful surveillance and seven misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
During the arraignment, Judge Barbara Kahn issued seven orders of protection, prohibiting Mr. Sheppard from contacting his alleged victims and witnesses. During the roughly 20 minute proceedings, James Chalifoux, the deputy chief for the major crimes bureau in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, told Judge Kahn that it was clear to the prosecution the incident was not a mistake, as some have alleged, and that Mr. Sheppard deliberately filmed 13- and 14-year-old girls by placing his cell phone in the girls locker room when they were scheduled to change clothes.
Mr. Chalifoux added that Mr. Sheppard had attempted to erase the video, but it was recovered by authorities.
"The video makes it very clear that this is not a mistake," he said. "The video clearly shows the defendant setting up the phone to record these young girls undress."
Due to the nature of the crime, Mr. Chalifoux requested that Mr. Sheppard’s bail be doubled to $50,000 cash bail, but the request was denied by the judge.
Mr. Sheppard did not speak during the arraignment and his attorney, Peter Brill of the Brill Legal Group, only briefly stated that his client was not a flight risk and has never been in trouble with the law.
He was arrested by New York State Police on March 20. Police said their investigation revealed that Mr. Sheppard, a four-year employee of the district, placed a video recording device in the girls locker room at the middle school.
Investigators have not said when the incident took place, although district officials contacted Westhampton Beach Village Police on February 26 to request an investigation. Village Police later requested that State Police take charge of the investigation.
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The district attorney publicly presenting the evidence DISCOVERED in the case, in a public courtroom, is a public reading of the evidence. The DA, cannot make false statements in a courtroom without being criminally held accountable. The evidence speaks for itself.
@Hollywood: No, you simply ...more don't get it. The criminal complaint is not evidence. The charges are not evidence. The DA reading the charges, public forum or not, is not evidence. The DA is making legal argument and articulating the state's position and what they claim the evidence will show at trial. The state's position and what they claim the evidence reflects does not always comport with reality.
This is how the justice systems works. Parties will say the evidence shows very different ...more things. Sometimes one is right, and sometimes the truth is somewhere in the middle. The prosecutor says the evidence shows x, whereas the defense counsel will likely say it shows y. Its the jury's job to determine what the evidence actually shows, and for all you know, the jury could come back with x, y, or even z, which would be something else entirely. Your blind acceptance of what the state claims the evidence shows is narrow minded and naive. You don't get it.
But the depth of wrongs goes so much deeper than that. It has been eye opening, and ultimately incredible disheartening, to see how the authority figures at the school and ultimately the community has responded to children simply ...more reporting that they saw something wrong.
Isn’t that what we want our children to do?!?!?!
These girls were disregarded by the first person they turned to, their rights of anonymity stripped away by a foolish principal's personal relationship with the accused and then they stood alone as a community ripped them down. A phone call from a principal telling a parent to disregard their little daughter’s pleas of feeling violated should never happen. In what type of society should an indiscretion like that ever take place? Especially after already putting the little ones in the room with the big person they have accused. Face to face. So he may see them.
I understand alliances and I can understand the pain of facing the fact that someone you care about is not who he may seem. But, it also must be said that, supporting someone doesn’t equate to blindly believing them when evidence proves otherwise. And it especially does not, AND SHOULD NEVER, mean that children’s reputations can be tossed around simply because you do not want to believe what they are saying might just be true. Children have the right to speak up against any adult that has violated them. They get this right for one simple fact, they are children. They are the little ones. We are the big people. The little ones only weapon is their voice and the right to speak up if they feel violated. We teach them this (and in this case they listened!). Their voice is their protection. And no matter how loved or trusted or perfect a big person may seem, any little one has the intrinsic, societal given right to speak up without community prosecution... If this right is taken away, our society fails. Why even bother prosecuting sexual abusers or pedophiles if the rights of a child to speak up are scared out of them. I beg the big people in the community to educate yourself on this case and then to rise up, to rage against everything that happened to these little ones (from the perverted gym teacher, to the stupid principal, to the “unlawful surveillance” law that doesn’t take into account the fact that they were children), and to vow to never let it be handled this way again.
Commence the 3020-a hearing now and call HIM as the first witness on the question of misconduct. He has no Fifth Amendment right in a civil proceeding; and if he decides to stand mute, that can be considered against him.
There is no reason for this suspension to pay continue without having an immediate hearing.
Once again I called you to task for your fabrications, and in your response you make up some more. You "heard the DA's office was getting a lot of heat from parents" Really? Just where did you "hear" this?
Of course if there is a murder in Suffolk the homicide bureau shows up. If one owns property in the 5 east end towns you pay for local PD services and some to the County for specialized services such as homicide, arson, etc. In western Suffolk you ...more pay for patrol cars as well as the specialized services.
A mob scene the NYSP shows up? Just how many State PD do you think are on the East End at any time. Never any more than 5. Just because the press release say that NYSP were called, doesn't mean a dozen showed.
Now not for anything, but I have previously stated that I am not a cop, nor married to one, but do have family as LEO's up west.
Now please, a link to those Somali voters? And another for the dead people voting? And the license to vote and own a weapon as well please. Just check the Constitution first. Do I need to repost every challenge I have made to you regarding your unfounded and fabricated statements?
Do us a favor and research what you post and I wont bother you anymore.
Please tell us when "the police did nothing" and when "the $300,000 administrator tried to sweep it under a rug" And who hired friends?
While you're at it, I'm still waiting for a link to show how "Somali's invaded and took over voting in Columbus Ohio"
And the "license to vote" and "license to own a weapon"
You see when you post things, you should be able to cite a source to back you ...more up. FWIW, I don't follow you around, you post such incredibly inaccurate statements, you need to be called on them.
Now go away.
"universal federal ID" ? Are you serious? Why don't we just replace that with a 21st century microchip?
You have gone over the edge.
And again, I do not have a government job of any type.
Here is the voter ID article:
http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Southampton-Village-Surrounding-Areas/4655/Civil-Rights-Activist-Bob-Zellner-Arrested-In-North-Carolina-For-Protesting-Voting-Law
PS -- Talk about going over the edge . . .
Why haven't the writers on this page spoken up at a board meeting? Is it because you can no longer be anonymous?