Former Wethersfield Principal Cops Plea in Voyeurism Case

WETHERSFIELD, CT — The former principal of a Wethersfield elementary school has reached a plea deal in a voyeurism case in which he is accused of taking inappropriate pictures of children at a Hartford Walmart, court records indicate.

John Bean, 47, of West Hartford, who was the principal at Highcrest Elementary School, will be facing a 10-year-sentence, suspended after two, court records indicate.

The Hartford Courant reported that prosecutors want Bean to register as a sex offender for the 10 years he is on probation.

Bean was arrested by Hartford police Sept. 24, 2016. Sentencing is slated for Jan. 9, court records indicate.

He was accused of following children around the store the Saturday before in order to take secretive pictures of them. According to the Hartford Police arrest log, Bean was taken into custody at 1:05 p.m. at 495 Flatbush Ave., the address of the area Wal-Mart.

According to a police report, an uniformed officer assigned to the Wal-Mart that day was called into the store by security staffers because they had been watching a man, later identified as Bean, walking through several aisles. He had no cart and appeared not to be shopping, but following children with his phone camera and then taking pictures of them when their mothers traveled out of the photo frames, police said in the report.

He was concealing his phone with a toy package, according to the report.

The officer first confronted Bean by pretending he recognized him, but Bean put his head down and tried to walk away, according to the report. He was placed in an arm lock by the officer, told he was being detained for questioning about the photos and led away, according to the report.

When asked what he did for a living, because he had on what appeared to be a youth soccer shirt, Bean simply said "work," according to the report. Police determined he was the principal at Highcrest, according to the report.

Bean was then arrested based partly on the store security camera evidence, according to the report.

Photo Credit: Hartford police