Teacher's Videos Spark Criminal Charge

(AP)  A high school teacher was charged under Texas' "peeping Tom" law with videotaping girls' wrestling matches for his sexual enjoyment.

Police said David Ware, 28, often zoomed in for close-up shots of the girls' crotches.

Authorities say the first-year speech and drama teacher plans to turn himself in this week to Grand Prairie, Texas, police to face charges of improper visual recording, which carries up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Ware shot about two hours of videotape at an all-day tournament Saturday but drew suspicion from a coach, Grand Prairie Sgt. John Brimmer said. A police officer reviewed Ware's tape.

"This was more than accidental footage of the genital areas," Brimmer said. "It appeared to be a purposeful act of zooming in."

Ware was charged under a 2001 law meant to protect people from ultra-small cameras that can be used to peek into dressing rooms or up women's skirts. Under the law, filming a person without consent for sexual arousal is a felony.

Ware's school, Garland Lakeview Centennial High School, was not entered in the wrestling tournament.

His attorney, Scott Palmer, said Ware was simply interested in wrestling. And the lawyer complained that the law is so broad that could be used to jail Dallas Cowboys fans for taking pictures of the team's sultry cheerleaders from the stands.

"How do you draw the line?" Palmer said. "If you go to a Cowboys game and take a close-up shot of their cleavage, are you committing the same offense because you think that has sex appeal?"

School officials said Ware has been placed on paid leave.

[arthurcl1]

This guys like Foley, house of Representives who got caught chasing the boy pages around!

[karen091866]

Just one more headline where a predator/pervert selects a career that enables them to get closer to their 'prey'
This sick freak will get exactly what he deserves in prison.

[goldsummer]

I'm a mother of a young healthy female high school student... in my opinion .. toss this idiot in jail.. facts of this are as following : 1..The person responible for these acts is a "high school teacher"....a person in a position of trust. 2 "This was more than accidental footage of the genital areas," Brimmer said. "It appeared to be a purposeful act of zooming in."... this was a deliberate act of behavior. 3 the people he was filming .. were under aged persons
What David Ware did ... was nothing short of child porn. End of story.

[jdweymouth]

olebd: I definitely prefer it.

[bildooreilly]

Jello wrestling is best

[olebd]

I don't know about everybody else but, I liked it better when there was more of a separation between the sexes.

[olebd]

I must live under a rock....you mean there's girls wrestling matches now? I remember the mud wrestling craze so now they can wrestle in high school? Why would girls want to do this legitimately?

Come to think of it, girls wrestling does seem a bit more racy to me.

If they're going to ban this guy, they should ban all cameras.