Tuesday, August 30th 2016, 4:16 pm
A former Tulsa high school student is charged with taking lewd video of a special needs student while inside a school bathroom last fall, then posting it to Facebook.
According to court papers, the incident happened last October; but due to the court's clerical process, it took months before the suspect was formally charged.
Court records show on October 22nd, 2015, Ira Stoddard was inside a bathroom at Tulsa's Hale High School.
According to the affidavit filed this month, Stoddard took video “of a special needs student in a bathroom stall” who “was not aware that he was being videotaped.”
The affidavit says Stoddard then “posted” the video on his Facebook page.
The victim was “sitting on the bathroom toilet with his pants down” when Stoddard captured the video, the documents say.
Stoddard was 18 at the time and a student at Nathan Hale high school. School officials say he's no longer with the district.
Tulsa Public Schools gave News On 6 a statement saying:
“In October 2015, then-enrolled Hale High School student Ira Lamar Stoddard used a cell phone to take video of another student who was using the restroom. Mr. Stoddard then posted the video on social media. When school officials became aware of the video, they alerted Campus Police who followed up with the school team and both parties involved.”
We went to Stoddard’s address to get his side of the story, but a relative said he wasn’t home.
Court records say another student saw the video, reported it and Stoddard and “had a copy of the video posted on Facebook” to show investigators.
A spokesperson for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office said it took longer than normal to formally file charges because the initial court papers had the victim’s full name, so they had to redact that to protect the victim.
The court documents show when police interviewed Stoddard at his home last November, he voluntarily admitted to videotaping the student in the bathroom.
He has been charged with felony peeping-tom using photographic or electronic equipment.
August 30th, 2016
September 29th, 2024
September 17th, 2024
December 13th, 2024
December 13th, 2024
December 13th, 2024
December 13th, 2024