Attorney Reacts To 56,000 Laptop Images

LOWER MERION, Pa. - The number of images found in connection with the Lower Merion School District laptop webcam spying case shot up dramatically Monday.

The district now acknowledges 56,000 images have been found.

Mark Haltzman, who represents the family at the center of the lawsuit, reacted to the news Tuesday morning on "Good Day."

"I am not surprised," Haltzman said. "And remember, that number, 56,000, is only what they've been able to recover. We know that there are many, many more pictures that we believe of even Blake Robbins alone, there's at least another 300 to 400 screenshots and webcam pictures that they haven't been able to recover – or say that they haven't been able to recover."

Lower Merion's attorney says the tracking program took screengrab images and webcam photos every 15 minutes to help find computers.

The district also says the vast majority of the images were from laptops that were reported stolen or missing, and none of the images appear to be inappropriate.

Haltzman, however, contends that the invasion of privacy doesn't just extend to Harriton High School students.

He noted that the recovered images of Robbins include the student chatting over Facebook, iChat and other applications with friends from outside the school.

"They're having IM chats – and you know what kids say back and forth to each other – never expecting that their principal, the vice principal, other people would be able to have that memorialized permanently on a picture for them to look at whenever they wanted," Haltzman said.

Last week, Haltzman filed a motion to try and get Carol Cafiero, the district's former information technology supervisor, to turn over her personal computer and say what she knows about the use of the LANRev tracking software.

Haltzman said Cafiero declined to answer questions during a deposition, instead invoking her Fifth Amendment rights.

Cafiero's attorney has said they preferred to have her answer investigators' questions rather than Haltzman's, who they say has misinterpreted evidence that has come out of discovery.

Cafiero has an interview Tuesday with federal authorities, Fox 29 News has learned.

Asked if he thinks they'll learn anything new from that interview, Haltzman said, "I don't know. I hope that she has a change of heart and recognizes the importance to the Lower Merion community, to all the students that she has an obligation to let them hear the truth, let them know fully what took place. I think she owes them that."

But Haltzman said they still want to have her personal computer forensically investigated to see if any pictures already found or not yet recovered are on there.

Haltzman also denied opposing counsel's claims that he is misinterpreting or spinning evidence in the case.

In court documents he cited an e-mail exchange between one IT worker who said the images show a "LMSD soap opera" and Cafiero responding, "I know, I love it!"

Haltzman confirmed that pre-dated the incident with Robbins, but said it was intended to show that his client wasn't the only one whose privacy was allegedly violated.

"We never said that they were talking about our client," Haltzman said, referring to that e-mail exchange. "We were showing the extent to which Carol Cafiero enjoyed what she was looking at."