Teacher Took "Upskirt" Pix Of Female Students

JANUARY 11--A teacher used an iPad to surreptitiously take inappropriate photos and videos of female students in his classroom and other areas of the Pennsylvania high school where he taught Spanish, investigators allege.

Gaspare Gambino, 34, was charged Tuesday with 14 misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy in connection with images taken at Honesdale High School in Honesdale, a rural borough about 30 miles northeast of Scranton.

According to a criminal complaint, Gambino (seen above) used a school-issued iPad to take “upskirt” photos of some students, as well as close-up shots of the breasts of other victims. A review of the images, a State Police investigator noted, revealed that some of the photos were taken from Gambino’s perch at the front of his classroom.

A total of 14 teenage students--all of whom were clothed--were secretly photographed by Gambino, the complaint alleges.

Gambino, who earned about $60,000, became the focus of a criminal investigation late last year after a male student discovered the images on the teacher’s iPad. Since the pupil arrived at school without his iPad, Gambino lent the student his Apple device so that the 14-year-old could complete a class assignment.

While using Gambino’s iPad, the student accessed a Google Drive folder containing the “upskirt” photographs. The boy’s troubling discovery was subsequently reported to school administrators, who seized Gambino’s iPad from his classroom.

“The photographs and videos depicted images of intimate parts” of the juvenile victims, reported Trooper Gregory Allen, who added that Google records indicated that Gambino “made attempts to delete” the images prior to being placed on administrative leave.

Gambino, who was booked into the Wayne County Prison on $10,000 bail, is scheduled for a January 17 District Court preliminary hearing. (2 pages)