High School girls testify at Skiatook ex-coach's preliminary hearing

Tuesday, December 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A former Skiatook high school coach accused of videotaping girls in a school locker room went to court Monday. It was a day that started with the methodical, hours of testimony about who had the videotape before it wound up in the hands of the authorities. It ended with the emotional testimony of young girls who are on the video changing clothes, and in one case, are pictured on the tape completely nude.

Harry Red Eagle Junior is on one of the videotapes which was given to The News on Six by a high school teacher. Red Eagle, Jr. is seen placing the camera inside a locker in the girlâ€™s locker room, adjusting a towel placed over it, then leaving just before girls enter the room to change clothes. Four months after the videotape was broadcast on KOTV Channel 6, Red Eagle, Jr. is in court for his preliminary hearing.

Fifty people packed the courtroom, many of them parents and students from Skiatook. They heard testimony from four teachers who had the videotape before it was given to KOTV. Two of those teachers were fired, but the one who handed it over to the television station is still teaching. Red Eagle, Jr. resigned just days after the tape was broadcast.

Monday afternoon, two girls on the tape testified about going to the police department, and identifying themselves on the videotape. One 15-year-old girl testified Red Eagle, Jr. set an appointment for her to take a whirlpool bath in the girlsâ€™ locker room. She was videotaped in the nude through a crack in a wall.

A police detective testified he could hear breathing on the tape by whomever was behind the camera, and the prosecution will try in the coming days to prove that was Harry Red Eagle Junior. The hearing will continue on Friday.