Victim files lawsuit after being secretly recorded inside Highland Park school bathroom
There's a new fallout from hidden cameras that were caught recording people using a bathroom inside a Highland Park middle school.
The victim came to the Highland Park police station. Officers showed images of her, one of many captured in the secret recording at both the middle and high schools. She is speaking out because she believes nothing was done to protect her and others.
"I've cried tears of frustration. I cried tears of panic when I initially found out. That I've been recorded," she said.
The woman's recording happened inside a Edgewood Middle School in a unisex first-floor bathroom.
"I'm at school doing my job, and I just never expected this," she said.
Back in February, Highland Park police arrested a juvenile for hiding a camera inside the bathrooms of the middle school and high school. At the time, police said they were looking to identify victims secretly recorded.
But the woman only learned about the illegal recording by watching CBS News Chicago.
"I felt panic and really just helpless, because how could this be on the news and I wasn't notified?"
She then contacted the school to see if she was a potential victim, but she wasn't satisfied with the district's response.
"I was stonewalled. I wasn't given information," she said.
All she wanted to know was if she was recorded while at work. After countless emails and calls, she sent a picture of herself.
"I'm requesting, please, send this photo to whoever is the point person so I know if I was recorded," she said,
Within days, Highland Park police called and requested she come to the police station. They showed images of her while in the restroom.
"I felt like I was going to throw up. That was the only emotion at that time. I just wanted to leave," she said.
She eventually contacted attorney Kevin Golden.
"She described the tile would be sitting up like this. Obviously, he had a device," he said.
This week, he filed this lawsuit against North Shore School District 112.
The lawsuit alleges that "on more than one occasion prior to February of 2024...teachers and staff noticed that the ceiling tiles in the school's first-floor bathrooms appeared to be manipulated and displaced."
The district failed the following:
- To adequately monitor and/or inspect school facilities.
- To respond to concerns raised by staff.
- To have in place an appropriate supervision policy for students using the first-floor bathrooms.
- To supervise the student who placed a recording device in the ceiling.
"The fact the amount of victims and students that could be there and the school's non-action is disturbing," Golden said.
"People have the right to know, and I feel there are many, many other victims."
The investigation into the case is ongoing. Police are still working to figure out how many videos were recorded and where they ended up.
The boy originally used his cell phone at the middle school. He graduated and then started doing the same thing at the high school, which is why this victim says enough was not done to protect people.