School Volunteer, Suspected of Taping Students, Dismissed

A volunteer at Aliso Elementary School has been dismissed on suspicion that he videotaped several students in a bathroom on campus, school and Sheriff’s Department officials said Tuesday.

The unidentified volunteer has not been arrested, though the Sheriff’s Department is continuing to investigate and is searching for other possible victims.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson said there was not enough evidence to arrest the volunteer. Wilkerson declined to release details of the Oct. 21 incident, such as the number of children involved, their gender, ages and the circumstances of the videotaping session.

A letter to parents from the Sheriff’s Department on Friday asked children to be questioned “if they are aware of anyone taking pictures of them while on the school grounds.”

The investigation began after one of the children involved told his mother about the incident and she reported it to the school’s principal, authorities said. It does not appear that the alleged victims were touched, school officials said.

Since the report, the volunteer “has been prohibited access to the school and does not pose a threat to the children,” according to the letter, dated Oct. 25.

School officials have locked a side gate, “so that there’s only one entrance to the school,” said Kellie Mascari, the school’s PTA president.

She said the volunteer worked on campus since the beginning of the school year, doing “grunt work” such as copying videotapes and work sheets for teachers.

The man apparently developed a relationship with the children and “they thought that they could trust him,” Mascari said.

“I mean, these kids are so young they probably didn’t even figure anything was wrong,” Mascari said.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District spokeswoman Elaine Carter said school officials are providing psychologists and counselors for students and parents.

“For a child to go through something like that is just terrible,” Mascari said. “And this has always been just a fantastic school. . . . And if it could happen here, it could happen in any community.”

Investigators are asking parents who believe their child might have been photographed or videotaped without the school’s knowledge or permission to call sheriff’s investigator Fred Geller at (714) 647-7419.