Walter Johnson HS employee accused of recording students in dressing room

On April 7, students taking part in the production of the musical Hadestown located a video camera in the control booth of the theater at Walter Johnson High School. Suspicious, they looked at the camera’s video card.

Police say they discovered images that appeared to have been taken in the girl’s changing room.

An investigation led to the arrest of 43-year-old James Mulhern III, a media services technician at the Bethesda school.

News4 spoke by phone with a woman we’ll only identify as a Walter Johnson graduate, who took part in a theatrical production as a student and used that changing room.

“The first thing that sort of goes through your mind is like, who is on that? Am I on that? Are my friends on that?” she said.

“The dressing rooms are in the theater. They are underneath the stage, which then you can, from the theater, you can find access to the tech booth, which is where he spent most of his time,” she added.

She is still in touch with both former and current students who do theater at Walter Johnson.

“I’m very close to a lot of the people that were in the theater program. I mean, it’s absolutely heartbreaking because, again, it’s such a close-knit community,” she said.

Police confirmed they met with parents at the school Tuesday and updated them with the latest, including information that detectives are in possession of video Mulhern recorded in 2018. It shows four individuals in various stages of undress but no nudity.

Detectives have identified and contacted all four victims. More than 100 computers, cell phones, tablets and other electronic media seized from school and Mulhern’s residence.

He is currently charged with sex abuse of a minor.

“This is stuff that you can never get back,” said victim’s rights expert Jennifer Storm. “This is actually footage of you being violated. That is, you know, potentially out on the internet certainly was in the possession of this person.”

She says the fact that students, themselves, discovered the hidden camera is very commendable.

“Well, first of all, these women are heroes, right? Because they have not only stopped this person in his tracks, they’ve probably saved so many other young girls from having to go through this,” she said.

Mulhern is released on a $10,000 bond with the promise he will return for court appearances, stay away from minors, stay away from the internet and stay away from Walter Johnson High School.