A Bellingham, Massachusetts teacher charged with child porn after allegedly recording a middle school student in the bathroom faced a judge on Monday.
Scott McDonald, a 38-year-old teacher and baseball coach at Bellingham Memorial Middle School, was arraigned on charges of photographing the sexual or intimate parts of a child and posing or exhibiting a child in a sexual act. He has been on administrative leave since Nov. 9 and was previously released on $1,000 bail.
During Monday's arraignment at Milford District Court, a prosecutor laid out details of the case.
McDonald allegedly lured the victim into a faculty bathroom after telling the 14-year-old boy to go out to his car and retrieve a binder of grades. When the teen went to the faculty restroom, he noticed a box with a hole in it, in which the victim found an iPhone recording in secret, according to authorities.
During the ongoing police investigation, officers seized McDonald's phone, finding a still shot of the teen's genitals in what appeared to be the act of urination.
Prosecutors said McDonald tried to commit suicide a few weeks ago amid the investigation and asked the judge to set his bail at $50,000.
Bail was kept at $1,000, but the judge required McDonald to wear a GPS monitoring device and to remain on lockdown while he stays with relatives; however, the lockdown can be lifted as he seeks mental health treatment.
School administrators said they're committed to keeping a "safe learning environment" for students.
"As an educator and a parent I am absolutely appalled anytime a teacher violates the awesome trust and responsibility given to teachers by the parents of the children placed in our care on a daily basis," Bellingham School Superintendent Peter Marano said in a letter sent to parents.
Anyone with additional information regarding this case is asked to contact the Bellingham Police Department at 508-966-1515.
McDonald is due back in court on Jan. 10, 2019.
