Ex-teacher gets 5 years for recording students changing in classroom

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A former eighth-grade math teacher in Volusia County was sentenced to five years in prison for secretly video recording his students undressing inside a classroom.

Joshua Waguespack pleaded guilty to hiding cameras in his classroom closet at St. Peter’s Catholic School in DeLand.

Prosecutors said he hid a video camera inside the closet, where school girls as young as 9 changed clothes.

The pictures were discovered when Waguespack left his iPad in a shopping cart at a Walmart.

A woman who was trying to return the iPad discovered suspicious pictures on the device.

Waguespack tracked down the device using GPS technology. He recovered it and tried to delete the pictures and video, but police said they were able to then confiscate the device and found the videos.

Waguespack also admitted to police he placed a camera in a Walmart dressing area.

The mother of one of the St. Peter's students asked the judge to show no leniency when sentencing Waguespack.

"Please don't put him back on the street. Please give him the maximum sentence for this crime so these children will have that little bit of trust back in their lives," said the woman.

On Monday, before the sentence was handed down, he cried and asked to be released from jail, where he's been since his arrest in April of last year, using initials to describe his victims.

“I never intended to hurt J.K. or J. Placing the cameras in the store and the closet in St. Peters is the worst decision I’ve ever made. I would not presume to know how these young ladies feel or the pain the ordeal has caused them or their families,” said Waguespack.

Waguespack was also given five years of probation.

WFTV