Laptop Webcam Spying Case Turns Up Thousands Of Pictures

LOWER MERION, Pa. - Lawyers for the student behind a webcam spying lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District now say in court documents that more than 400 pictures were taken using the "peeping tom technology" on his laptop.

And the latest court filings say the district's former IT manager "may be a voyeur."

But a defense attorney for Carol Cafiero, the former information systems administrator, tells Fox 29 News the plaintiffs' lawyer is lying and exaggerating what happened.

The student behind the federal lawsuit, Blake Robbins, contends that he was confronted by a Harriton High School assistant principal over images taken with his school-issued laptop's camera.

The boy says the administrator thought he was taking drugs, but he was actually eating Mike & Ike candies.

The latest motion filed Thursday night by the student's attorney, Mark Haltzman, demands sanctions against Cafiero for failure to comply with a court order.

The laptop security technology used by Lower Merion schools, when activated, has the computer remotely snap incremental screenshots, webcam photos and send IP address information to help network administrators track down lost or stolen computers.

Robbins has said his laptop was never lost or stolen, and he previously knew of just one or two images taken using his webcam.

But the new court filings say Robbins' attorney now knows the security feature was activated for a 15-day period last fall, and over 400 screenshots and webcam photos were taken during that time.

The documents say most of the pictures were snapped while Robbins was at home, and not all of them have been recovered because the evidence was "purged" by Lower Merion's IT department.

Haltzman writes that testimony indicates the activation of the laptop-tracking security feature was "not in accordance with LMSD's own policies," and thousands of webcam pictures and screenshots were also taken of numerous other students outside of school.

Cafiero filed a motion to quash in an attempt to avoid having to give a deposition and, unlike any of the witnesses asked to testify, invokes the Fifth Amendment to every question asked of her, according to the Robbins' lawyer.

E-mails obtained by the plaintiffs were cited as the basis for their "voyeur" claim. They say when another IT person commented that viewing the webcam pictures and screenshots was like "a little LMSD soap opera," Cafiero responded, "I know, I love it!"

The Robbins' lawyers are now seeking access to Cafiero's personal computer for forensic examination, and they want her fined $2,500 for failing to comply with a prior court order.

But Charles Mandracchia, Cafiero's lawyer, told Fox 29 News that the plaintiffs are taking a lot of the testimony out of context.

Mandracchia also defended advice he gave his client not to answer Haltzman's questions at the deposition because this case has already spurred a local investigation, a federal probe and a U.S. Senate panel hearing on privacy concerns.

The school district issued a statement Friday updating the status of the investigation and acknowledging that photos have been recovered.

"A Motion filed yesterday by the plaintiffs ostensibly was against Carol Cafiero, but instead appears to be a vehicle to attack the District," the statement reads. "We do not feel it is appropriate for anyone other than the investigators to dictate the timing of the investigation and the release of complete findings. As we have made clear since day one, we are committed to providing all of the facts -- good and bad -- at the conclusion of the investigation. In light of what has been raised by plaintiffs' counsel, however, we feel it is critically important to provide immediate clarification regarding key items. "

The district has presented the judge with a plan to notify the family of each student appearing in any photos and give them the opportunity to view the images. School officials hope to start that process shortly.

Superintendent David Ebby's statement Friday reasserts that the district does not believe any "spying" occurred.

"While we deeply regret the mistakes and misguided actions that have led us to this situation, at this late stage of the investigation we are not aware of any evidence that District employees used any LANrev webcam photographs or screenshots for such inappropriate purposes," Ebby's statement reads.

For his report on Fox 29 News at 10, Sean Tobin spoke to the parents of Blake Robbins, Holly and Michael Robbins. Holly stated, "I was so appauled and I was just shocked that a school district  was using my son as a pawn in their little game."

Fox 29 will continue to cover this story.