From www.DrudgeReport.com
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Janitor accused of videotaping students in restroom is found dead





December 23, 2003, 12:04 PM EST

PHELPS, N.Y. -- A janitor accused of secretly videotaping female students and faculty in a restroom at a suburban Rochester high school has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

Allen Wemes, 52, was suspended from his job as chief custodian at Pittsford Sutherland High School last month after school officials found videotapes that surreptitiously depict a dozen students and faculty in restroom stalls.

Wemes, who was married, was found dead Monday night in woods behind his home in Phelps, 40 miles southeast of Rochester, said Ontario County Sheriff Phil Povero.

An autopsy was to be performed Tuesday but "there does not appear to be any signs of foul play," Povero said.

Wemes was suspended from his job without pay on Nov. 26 after he was discovered with pornographic materials at the school, authorities said.

The investigation was still under way and no charges had been filed. Wemes had worked for the Pittsford school district for 20 years.

Video voyeurism _ secretly capturing images of another person for sexual purposes _ became a felony in New York this summer punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The so-called Stephanie's Law was named after a Long Island woman, Stephanie Fuller, 29, whose landlord pleaded guilty to trespassing after spying on her for months by hiding a tiny video camera in a smoke detector above her bed. He was fined $1,468, placed on probation for three years and ordered to perform 280 hours of community service.

Under the law, most video voyeurism can result in sentences ranging from one year to seven years in prison. The longest sentences apply to cases in which images are disseminated, including over the Internet.