Gym Teacher Gets Probation for Filming Students in Middle School Locker Room

Thomas Sheppard, a four-year Westhampton Beach gym teacher who was accused in March of recording students with his cellphone in a locker room at the middle school, was sentenced to five years probation on Wednesday.

Suffolk County Criminal Court Judge Barbara Kahn also ordered Sheppard to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years and surrender his teaching license.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office recommended the maximum sentence of one and one-third to four years in prison. "From the beginning the recording of these girls was not inadvertent as the defendant first claimed," DA Thomas Spota said in a statement.

The sentencing comes after Sheppard, a 28-year-old Speonk resident, pleaded guilty to all charges in an eight-count indictment in October. 

Sheppard, who has been suspended without pay since his arrest, pleaded guilty to charges including second-degree unlawful surveillance, a felony, and seven counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.

Sheppard's initial arrest came after several students reported to school officials that their gym teacher had placed his cellphone in the girls locker room at the Westhampton Beach Middle School and recorded them while they were changing. 

The school district contacted the Westhampton Beach police and an investigation was launched with the help of New York State Police.

A grand jury indicted Sheppard in April. He initially pleaded not guilty and was released on a $25,000 bond.