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Subscribe to RSSA Texas middle school principal is accused of encouraging her daughter to hide a cell phone camera inside a high school girls’ locker room to spy on a coach accused of being too stern with basketball players.
Wendee Long, 46, is accused of using her daughter to place a camera inside an Argyle High School girls locker room.
Wendee Long, principal of Wayside Middle School in Fort Worth, surrendered to authorities on Monday in Denton County. She was charged with improper photography or visual recording and unlawful interception, use or disclosure of wire, oral or electronic communications, also referred to as wiretapping, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
If convicted, Long faces up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Long was released after posting $25,000 bail, the Star-Telegram reported.
Investigators said Long's two daughters played on the Argyle High School girls' basketball team and complained that the coach was too stern with players, according to television station WFAA of Dallas-Fort Worth.
According to court documents, Long encouraged one of her daughters, then 17, to hide the cell phone camera during an away basketball game in Sanger, Texas, in February, the Star-Telegram reported.
The daughter who planted the phone isn’t facing any charges and authorities say the camera didn't record anything inappropriate.
Long's attorney, Daniel K. Peaugh, said in an email Tuesday that he was “surprised and disappointed” at the charges, according to NBCDFW.com.
Read NBCDFW.com's complete coverage of principal on leave during locker room investigation
"We do not believe anything has taken place that should involve the justice system,” Peaugh wrote in an email. “However, now that we find ourselves in the system we are confident that Wendee will be cleared of any wrongdoing."
Julie Sheridan’s daughter was in the locker room while the camera was recording on Feb. 7, according to ABC News. Sheridan told ABC News: "I don't understand why someone would go to those lengths to break a law to try to get something to go the way they want it to go."
Long has been principal of Wayside Middle School in Tarrant County for five years, according to NBCDFW.com.
School district officials said they will conduct a separate investigation next week.
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They say the camera didn't record anything inappropriate? Once a pervert always a pervert nevertheless.
It's the intent that counts.
Well it said the intent was to find out if the coach was being too difficult on the basketball players. It wasn't planted in the shower. Next time read more than the head line.
Indeed, fwalsh, it sounds like this was NOT a sexual violation, but a case of very dubious judgement.
is there ever anything good, going on in Texas? Wow...it has the worse weather, strange politicians and gun laws.....very 3rd world like mentality.....who in God's name would want to live there.......I have never seen an uglier state in this country.......but it does attract the wackos...................excuse me Austin, I misspoke...Austin is a lovely city.
Sees thru glass, Really? A pervert? Did you read the stopry or just jump to false assumption after reading the headline.
She was trying to find out if the coach was out of line.
I think she used poor judgement, but for the life of me, I can't figure out thois up to 20 years deal when kids are constantly video taping other people and posting it all over the internet without consent!!! No one cares about that unless someone is beaten or raped.
If the students had done this on their own and caught the coach cussing and verbally abusive, it would be the coach under investigation.
Apparently right and wrong these days is subject to how each person feels about the situation ... one person secretly records and is a hero another is a crimminal.
In such a rush to be the first post you didn't bother to read the article. Pardon me for not being PC in this instance.
You are an IDIOT!
Ginger -
you are dead on! Check your STATE laws as to what you may or may not record, video, etc. Even if you catch a pervert (I realize that isn't the subject of this article), you might be on the hook for twenty years depneding on the state laws.
Think this is outrageous? Lobby your state reps!
flag waver- I know you don't have anything better to do than bash Texas, but really? Actually, I'm glad you feel the way you do about Texas being "ugly",attracting "wackos", and having a "3rd world mentality". At least this way, you won't ever reside here or even want to visit. Stay where you are, we don't want you!
a
It would appear that Ms. Sheridan is a softhead. Who cares, this lady handled a situation poorly - she should receive a fine, the school should investigate, and this should be over. Not even newsworthy IMO.
Why is it poor judgement? What the girl did was perfectly legal according to Texas state law:
So long as a wire, oral, or electronic communication—including the radio portion of any cordless telephone call—is not recorded for a criminal or tortious purpose, anyone who is a party to the communication, or who has the consent of a party, can lawfully record the communication and disclose its contents. Texas Penal Code § 16.02.
Under the statute, consent is not required for the taping of a non-electronic communication uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication. See definition of “oral communication,” Texas Code Crim. Pro. Art. 18.20.
Citation - http://www.rcfp.org/can-we-tape/texas
Long's daughters are both on the team. As long as they are one of the parties that is involved in the communication then they don't need consent of the coach. What's more, this was not a recording of an electronic communication, and since the coach was addressing a group of people in a public building there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Could it be that the coach has some friends at the police department who are abusing their power???? The people that charged her should be the ones investigated!!!! What a waste of the judicial system. This case is going to get dropped.
Lolly, the key term to remember for hidden cameras is "the expectation of privacy." You cannot have hidden cameras placed in areas where people have an expectation of privacy. The "expectation of privacy" is met in a locker room (you SERIOUSLY don't think there is an expectation of privacy when people are expected to undress? LOL).
A locker room is not a "public building" as you SOMEHOW think it is applied here, no more than you being recorded sitting on the toilet would be a "public building" issue. The issue isn't about recording the coach, it's about illegally video recording in a locker room (full of underage high school girls, I might add).
From a seperate case on the same issue, Tyler police officer Don Martin says the Texas Penal Code protects you from certain hidden cameras. "When you're going into a dressing room or bathroom, you're protected, meaning you should not be filmed while you're in those two types of areas, because it's a privacy area," said Martin.
Could it be that you have no clue about the law and no one is abusing their power? Anyone who would advocate that it's OK to record video in a high school locker room is beyond a moron and I know for a fact that I'd be pressing charges all the way if my teenage daughter was in a dressing room being recorded.
LMFAO; what coach didn't abuse us in the 1960's and 1970's.
I gave up coaching basketball because the kids today don't listen to instruction. Look at the NBA, it is nothing but rat ball now, they all need a kick in the butt and take 20 laps.
The same people who are offended this happened, are probably the same ones who go ballistic at Little League games. I also gave up umpiring baseball because the league wouldn't let me kick out a coach who was out of line before the game even started. He didn't like the way I ump'ed the last time those two teams met and was still angry all that time - I told him it was his teams obligation to ump the game and they couldn't find any parents from that team to do it. They probably knew they did want to ump with that coach in the dugout.
Didn't Ms. Long know it's the NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY'S job to spy on all of our communications?
Correction; They probably knew they DIDN'T want to ump...
Oh, and our most abusive coach (in Little League football) in the 1960's, never lost a game.
This is one more dumb simply silly thing the police or whoever has come up with because they have nothing else better to do! Come on this was not a sexual issue, nor was this water Gate or the CIA, FBI, it was just a person trying to find out what one of her workers was up too! Shame on you people , drop this case and get the bad guys why don't you!
Unbelievable.
20 yrs!? Rapists get less time. No harm was done. Unbelievable man.......
No wonder our prisons are over crowded. We put people behind bars for J-walking. WTF........
This is the direct result of the Prison for Profit system as well as American Hysteria at an all time high. Still think the Privatization of everything is a good thing? America is clearly a fascist regime, with the under classes exploited by an Oligarchy and a percentage of the population are sadistic bullies who gladly do the dirty work of those who profiteer off the common man, woman and child.
Being not too far from Argyle and once being in their district...I will tell you what this boils down to.
The coach Skip Townsend is very well known in Texas girls basketball. His previous team the Brock Eagles were always the top team in Texas 2A girls basketball. Powerhouse!! He leaves there and moves to Argyle. Argyle has always been known to recruit players...so why not coaches. He received a hefty raise to go there. Argyle was always very good in basketball and were a bigger classification being at 3A. Folks there were used to winning there. Rich, snobby people live there and they want it there way and no other way. This principle is a fine example of a proud citizend of Argyle. So anyway...Skip moves in and basketball season begins and Argyle thinks they will automatically go to state with him coaching and the girls they have on the team. Argyle didn't make playoffs this year...first time in a while (I think)! Skip does what he does and plays girls that might be younger than what other parents thought should be playing. What this boils down to is that this mommy didn't think her daughters was getting enough playing time and some younger girls were so she wants to catch the coach doing something so that she can run him out of town. All to familiar in Texas sports...parents don't like coaches they get them ran out of town. Some deserve to go though! I had heard around that before this happened a letter was circulating in Argyle about the thoughts of Skip Townsend and was sent out on school letterhead to parents in the district and then taken to the school for proof that people didn't like him. They are thinking this parent had something to do with that also.
Parents need to grow up and quit thinking their kids are all stud athletes. Make them earn their playing time. I am a parent of a girl basketball player. If she is sitting on the bench that is her fault and she needs to work harder. I am not a parent that will go in and confront a coach. That is their job, I would not want it for the world. If I wanted my child to be star player and play all the time, I should have been her coach. She has since graduated and knows that sports is not everything in life. Your body will eventually give out. Get an education, no one can ever take that from you.
You have got to be kidding me. She could face up to 20 years in PRISON. For what, trying to find out if their coach was too harsh on MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS. If she gets prosecuted what would that be teaching the kids, or anyone for that matter. This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life.
Lolly,
You have cited a wire tapping statute, which is inapplicable to this case. There is an enormous difference between audio taping a "communication" and secretly filming minors in a closed locker room where they shower and change. As stated above, this is an invasion of privacy matter. There is an art to locating an on-point statute and you wildly missed the mark.
Wow, the principal's a pervert for doing her job, but the dad in Vermont that put a recorder on his handicapped son isn't a pervert as well? What the heck is the deal with you people? Talk about fence jumpers, are you all politicians? Do you always just take the negative side of reported news? If some girl was getting beat by this coach and her camera caught it, I GUARANTEE you would have a different tune about her having her daughter record the goings on in the locker room at away basketball games. In case you forgot, perverts like Sandusky didn't record anything in the locker room, but rather just ruined children's lives! MORON!
Thanks 'Proud of Texas' for commenting to flag waver. You said it alot nicer than I would have. flag waver you need to add 'white' in front of your name.
Thank you Lolly!!
And Ro Mar, you are incorrect. That statute includes ANY recording. Not just wiretapping. You need to read the whole statute.
Under the statute, consent is not required for the taping of a NON-ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication. See definition of “oral communication,” Texas Code Crim. Pro. Art. 18.20.
Ahh but Green eyed---the prinicpal still overstepped her bounds and her role in an attempt to protect her child while ignoring the rights of all the other students.
She went on a personal mission and did so irresponsibily! Sure hope she does loose her job for she acted subjectively rather objectively! And she put her students at risk!
The government is prosecuting this citizen for "spying" on another citizen, while the government is allowed to spy on its citizens unimpeded.
What hypocrisy.
jumbob (#1.11): you missed something, the "expectation of privacy IN THAT CONVERSATION." Legal terms can definitely be vague, but this implies that it either means a confidential conversation/conversation in a setting that is not meant to be overheard by others for a reasonable reason. The locker room aside, the coach's "conversation" was not meant to be hidden from anyone, rather to be heard by everyone in the room, and therefore there was no expectation of privacy in that conversation. To add to that, since criminal conduct is now taking place in locker rooms more often, the locker room issue needs to be put in context. From what I understand, this is a male coach. Because of that, there should not be any undressing or private acts going on while he was in the locker room with the girls, and that also eliminates the privacy setting of the physical location during his presence.
If the coach had been recorded conducting illegal/unethical behavior, he would be the one charged or reprimanded and the principal would become a hero. Things can be so backwards, it's ridiculous, but I don't see anything really coming of this. In the long run, the intentions were not criminal in nature, and the principal was trying to protect the students. If there is a trial and conviction, it would be a huge waste of time and money, that's for sure.
Actually, I did read the article. I just don't buy it when it says that butch principal was in it just to eavesdrop.
Right. Homophobic much?
20 years in prison for wiretapping? What a backward justice system we have when a murderer's sentence is reduced to involuntary man slaughter and only gets him 10 years in jail. She didn't kill someone, she was trying to find out if her students were being abused!!! What a total load! Unbelieveable and completely wrong!
The first paragraph talks about the coach being too stern. How did you make a leap to abuse? You are what's wrong here!
This is the direct result of the Prison for Profit system as well as American Hysteria at an all time high. Still think the Privatization of everything is a good thing? America is clearly a fascist regime, with the under classes exploited by an Oligarchy and a percentage of the population are sadistic bullies who gladly do the dirty work of those who profiteer off the common man, woman and child.
....meanwhile our superhero Uncle Sam spies on millions of law abiding suspected terrorists
I read in another article that it was an audio recording, not video. That makes a lot more sense. One would think that a school principal would be smart enough to realize that, and I suspect she did.
If her intent was recording the coach, it stands to reason that there were no naked girls present, because he is male. Perhaps the recording was made during half time, during which one would think the coach might be harshing on the team for poor performance in the first half, that is, if there is a half time in basketball. I don't know because I've never been a fan.
As for the expectation of privacy, it's a bit subjective in this case. I've been in a lot of locker rooms and, at least within the locker room, there is no privacy. Showers are in one big room and your locker is usually just a few feet from the next guy getting dressed/un-dressed. That said, I certainly wouldn't want someone video taping or taking pictures while I was in a locker room and I doubt anyone else would.
Get out here with this crap. Come on! Are you serious? Doesnt the justice system have better things to do? Sounds like she was protecting the kids to me.
Rick, she broke the law. Just b/c you don't agree with it, doesn't make it right. "Being too stern" is all a matter of perspective. The principal over reacted.
I think every parent has the right to follow up on their child's welfare, especially in Texas. Do they still paddle the kid for not doing their homework? My bum still hurts from those days in San Antonio.
Something similar happened at a high school in my area and charges were not even filed on the teacher that did it. They did not lose their job or anything. Wtf?
Laws differ from stat-to-state. Check yours and lobby your reps for changes!!!!!
After the Sandusky case, I would wager school districts are getting more and more nervous about what people do and record in locker rooms no matter what...
Unfortunately, bullying is such a huge issue now that teachers are spending more time in locker rooms to prevent locker room bullying. These separate issues are colliding...
Clearly her intent was finding out if the coach was abusive not to aquire kiddie porn. That should be taken into account.
Why not just tell your kid that it is "their idea' to record
Yup. That way they'll not only be whiners, but they'll learn to break the law and go for a coverup when they get caught. Sounds like Texas to me. Sheesh.
And that woman is a principal??? Holy Hannah.
What the heck is going on in Florida and Texas...and Alabama this week???? Well, any week???
Classic example of making a mountain out of a molehill!! Must not be much crime in that neck of the woods or this certainly wouldn't be prosecuted!
and if it had been a male Principal would you say the same?
If, but, maybe....
It wasn't a male principal, but it was a male coach.
Should have used the appropriate channels in the school system. Too many people want to "do it themselves" and end up screwing up like this.
And if "approcpriate channels" cover up misconduct (Such as Sandusky/Penn), what is your solution?
Maybe she went about this wrong, but criminal charges and a possible sentence of 20 years and a $20,000 fine? This does not fit this "crime" in any way. Unbelievable. Her concern sounds like it was for her children and she needed proof.
The part I find wrong about this is the grown up who should know about federal wire-tapping laws is teaching her daughter it's fine to break the law because mom said so. This woman should be setting a better example for her kids.
The BashfulRabbit gets it. The principal of a school is doing this stuff. She KNEW it was against the law.
Does anyone want someone recording their actions all day? Even if it's against the law??
I can just picture this kid whining to her stupid mother "But Mom, she's so mean to us..." and Mom telling the daughter to break the law! And people, where does this stop? Follow the coach and record her going out to dinner (gasp!), maybe ordering something with tofu (OMG!!) in it?
Mom should have told her kid if she thought it was "too hard" to work harder to improve her performance. Get her ready for the real world. You don't get a "do over" in the real world. The laws are there for a reason (well, it is Texas after all...LOL) aren't they? Think about why the law was passed and who it is supposed to protect. Ok, got it? This mother (LOL) needs to lose her job and go to jail for a while to teach her what happens in the real world when you instruct your kids how to break a law and commit a felony.
MN BadGirl - You must be a troll. Please tell me that every word you just typed is a joke or some lousy shot a sarcasm.
The government does already. Your precious Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that you LOL, OMG, and hopefully, eventually STFU on, tracks you. Traffic cams track you. Your webcam is constantly viewing you if it's not disabled. The mic records you. How about that phone? Yup GPS, location services, geotagging, all sorts of goodies.
But of course none of those companies or people should go to jail, right? Shall we name the times the federal government has illegally wiretapped and spied on people and companies? Let's just start with that last 30 years... Oh, how about the one where the NSA illegally wiretapped almost every person in America at one point or another pre and post 9/11. They got in almost no trouble for it.
Please, keep you mindless valley-girl babble away from intelligent people. You look a lot more smart that way.
MN, all your other comments aside, the coach IS A MAN, not a woman. Try to read before you write.
The principal reads all the stories of the police pulling their illegal stuff for whatever so she thought she has the power they do. Some men are bad enough, but you put a woman in charge of so many people there is no telling what they will do for attention.
Notice how the world has went all to hell since women entered the work force? Yeah man, one begat the other!
I hope you really need a sarcasm font with this comment.
No sarcasm allowed!
Midnightridr.. you exaust me... what about Sandusky? Like men are any better with power right?
Three words instantly come to mind. Communist - Liberal - Democrat.
Four words come to mind, STFU.
Only one word, certainley not PC, comes to mind for your post: IDIOT!
Three words come to mind, Suck - my- cock.
I don't think I was aiming for PC on that one. But you feel free to call names. Pot meet Kettle.
Midnightrider-
oh, so you are one of those!
How dare you engage in un- politically correct gay bashing!
Five words come to mind. Five words come to mind. Five words come to mind.
Seriously. When I read "three words come to mind" and then "four words come to mind" I figured I would come up with five words to be sarcastic, but "five words come to mind" is actually five words. Since that idea sucked I will just say the principal is an imbecile.
TROLL, with a very small mind, and I suspect, other small bits.
As usual, someone had to try to make it political. I'm surprised it took this far into the thread.
"If convicted, Long faces up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine."
What a nonsense backwards justice system we have. A girl from my home town was just sentenced for driving through marked lanes, hitting a car in the other side and killing both the driver and the passenger. She was not texting or drinking, but still at fault. She gets 6 months (or about that) in jail and other assorted lame bullsh*t like community service.
But god forbid you go and try to record someone... no.. that's 20 years!
And the gubmint does it millions of times per day, but it's legal when they do it.
And its also legal for the gubmint to make illegal international arms deals with narco terrorist's, and I could go on and on and on ad infinitum......................
The gubmints goal is to make EVERYTHING a felony for all of us who are underneath the law. It will help them tremendously in their endeavor to disarm the otherwise law abiding public.
Exactly. If I go to my neighbor's house, take $250.00 from his wallet and go across town and give the money to a poor person I go to jail for theft. If the government takes $250.00 from my paycheck every week and pays to someone else as welfare it's damn heroic. Redistribution has to be done by the correct distributors and recording by the correct recorders.
Tiny, no one said you couldn't give to the poor. You just can't steal to do it. Feel free to give $250 of your own money.
Again a situation where the punishment does not fit the crime. What about all those cameras all over the highways, cities, malls, and drones? Should we not be allowed to arrest the government lackeys and throw them in prison for 20 years? Again a situation where the government has two sets of rules to protect their illegal activities.
Go figure.
Those are public places, where you can reasonably be expected to be monitored. And it's not just government, private industry has cameras, etc. This case happened in a school locker room, where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. Read the law.
If she is indicted then the Federal and local law enforcement should also be indicted for doing the same thing.
You have that right Joe!
"The Federal and local law enforcement" are making recordings in girls locker rooms in schools!? When did that start?
Quite the specious argument my friend. Do yourself, and all the rest of us a favor, get some help for you paranoia.
MN BadGirl
You are pretty scarry, you have no idea how abusive the coach may have been, but you are ready to throw the mom in jail. WOW!!! How about babie cams if you want to check on your babysitter? Or should the baby just man up and not complain?
God I hope none of the people that are talking about this being wrong are allowed to vote or multiply!
I mean how did the cops find out about this and you get less time for murder these days!!!! What if the coach was going over the top. My guess is since the women is a principle she might have had mmore complaints than just her kids. She has been around long enough to know how kkids are.
And what is with the people here that think this has sonmething to do with sex???? I mean please do not vote or have kids please!!!!
Yep, folks, the laws differ from state to state. Granny cams? Baby sitter cams? In-your-driveway cams? Better know where your rights reside in your state. You, too, could be facing twenty/twenty. Let your state reps know how you feel!!
They don't care how we feel, and haven't for a very long time.
No wonder teachers and staff are up in arms concerning administration. Principals and school boards run amok.
This texas woman appears to have a soul patch. What's up with that? I should think this is the bigger story. What say?
"What say?" You have a vivid imagination and are hung up about homosexuality and no, that isn't the bigger story, it's totally irrelevant. Grow up.
That's "what say."
These are PRICELESS comments! It's amazing how many people have opinions without understanding the laws. Cameras in public places are no problem. If they had recorded the coach ANYWHERE but a locker room/bathroom, this would not be a legal issue. However, I'm not aware of a single state that allows video recording or cameras INSIDE locker rooms/bathrooms (it's illegal to have monitering devices and recording going on in there). Schools, private businesses, and government agencies are all prohibited from putting such in restrooms.
Seriously folks, brush up on the law a little and understand the difference between cameras in public places and in off limit areas. Otherwise, every pervert in America will be using the defense of 'just seeing what people are saying in the locker room'.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL...?...?...?
My name is Walt Kornberg, Im a 49 year old Boy Scout Troop Leader living in my parents basement here in Akron Ohio. I never used a Cell Phone to spy on kids.....
....I found putting a Camera in the wall with a peep hole into the Bathroom was much more efficient.
Reminds me of the middle school principal who got tired of the boys putting a whole roll of toilet tissue into the johns to flood the boys' room. He climbed into the ceiling over the stalls to see who was responsible.
When one of the lads came into the stall, grabbed the roll of paper, and stuffed it into the pipe, the principal leaned down out of the ceiling, and yelled, "Gotcha!" I bet the boy was more than a little surprised.
At my private school, the problem was cherry bombs being put into lockers and trash cans being set on fire. This was before security cameras came into common usage in schools.
I was asked to sub for a math class. One of the boys said he'd forgotten to get his algebra book, but his locker was just outside the room. Would it be ok if he went out and got it? Being of a kindly disposition, I told him that was fine, just get the book.
However, being an experienced teacher, I have a suspicious nature along with that kindly disposition and I waited until he got to the locker before I watched him from the doorway. He opened the locker, lit a match while holding the cherry bomb, and I walked up, took the match and the bomb from his hand and escorted him to the assistant principal in charge of discipline.
I found out later that I had caught the school secretary's son and was responsible for getting the evidence to have him expelled.
He had to go to a large local public school and was stabbed at a high school football game a month later. I did what I had to do, but he paid a high price for some teenage hijinks.