A Fort Smith man was being held in the Crawford County jail Thursday after a judge found probable cause the man recorded images of a boy in a bathroom stall at Van Buren High School.
Kennard Lombard, 35, was being held in lieu of $15,000 bond on a charge of video voyeurism, according to county jail records. No formal charge had been filed against him as of Thursday afternoon.
Lombard, an instructor's aide, was arrested Monday after the student reported someone recorded him with a cellphone in the bathroom stall, according to a Van Buren police news release.
The student reported to a teacher that someone inserted a cellphone through a seam in the stall and pointed the camera at him. The principal notified school resource officers who began an investigation.
After reviewing surveillance video of people entering and leaving the bathroom, Lombard was developed as a suspect. He was arrested after an interview with Van Buren police detectives, the release said. The investigation was continuing to determine if other incidents of video voyeurism had occurred.
Video voyeurism is a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.
At least two others in western Arkansas have been charged recently with video voyeurism.
University of Arkansas student Garrett Wolff, 20, of Flower Mound, Texas, was charged in Washington County Circuit Court on Sept. 22 with recording images of sexual activity in a bathroom stall at a fraternity house. He has pleaded innocent to the charge.
Mark Aaron Smith, 39, of Booneville also pleaded innocent to a video voyeurism charge after an investigation at Booneville High School. Smith, a coach and instructor at the school, is accused of hiding a cellphone in a soap dispenser in a girls' bathroom Aug. 28 and video-recording girls changing clothes.
NW News on 10/06/2017