Bloomingdale High Teacher Reportedly Recorded Students For Year

VALRICO, FL – A Bloomingdale High School teacher told Hillsborough County Sheriff’s detectives that he’d been secretly recording students undressing at the school since January 2017.

During an interview with Mark Ackett, 49, following his arrest on Sept. 12, Ackett admitted to hiding two cell phones in boxes in the dressing room of the fashion design classroom at the school and secretly recording students changing their clothes.

Detectives arrested Ackett after a 17-year-old student went into the dressing room to try on several outfits and noticed a cell phone hidden in a box in the room where she was changing clothes.

Ackett told detectives that he had been secretly recording “multiple” students at the high school since he began teaching there in January 2017.

While executing a search warrant at the high school, detectives found two Samsung Galaxy Note phones hidden in boxes in the dressing room. Holes had been cut in the boxes to expose the lenses on the phones. The phones contained eight recordings of teen girls changing clothes.

Detectives are also examining three digital cameras and a collection of digital storage cards and thumb drives found in Ackett’s desk.

Additionally, they’ve obtained a warrant to search Ackett’s computer and email for additional videos and images.

Ackett was charged with one count of committing video voyeurism on Sept. 12 but could face additional charges after detectives complete their investigation (see related story).

Ackett was hired by the Hillsborough County School District in 1991. He served as the assistant principal at Bloomingdale from 2006 to 2009 and then worked in the district's central office as the supervisor of attendance. He returned to Bloomingdale as the fashion design teacher in 2017. He was also the girls track coach at Bloomingdale.

Ackett is out of jail after posting $7,500 in bail. He lives in Plant City.

Image via Hillsborough Sheriff

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