Former Student Sentenced In Cell Phone Eavesdropping Case

ADAIRSVILLE, GA -- The former Adairsville High School student whose cell phone was found to have snapped photos of his peers while hidden inside a girls locker room has been sentenced in connection with the incident. Casey Cullen Schmidt was sentenced to five years on probation, said Cherokee Judicial Circuit Chief Assistant District Attorney Mickey Thacker.

Schmidt, who was indicted on six counts of invasion of privacy, will also have to pay a $1,000 fine, complete 40 hours of community service and a psycho-sexual evaluation. He will also be required to follow through with any recommended treatment plans. His attorney, Lance McCoy, requested Schmidt be sentenced as a first offender, which Thacker said the Bartow County Superior Court granted.

Schmidt was originally charged with six counts of felony eavesdropping and felony one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in March 2016 after a staff member found the cell phone, which appeared to have been planted in the locker room to capture images, the Bartow County School System previously told Patch.

Officials were able to track down the owner of the Apple iPhone -- later identified as Schmidt -- and removed him from the school. In the meantime, the Bartow County Campus Police Department was granted a search warrant to investigate the phone's contents.

According to an incident report released by Bartow County Schools, five students and one teacher were captured on the phone. The students were recorded changing clothes for classes either in the restroom area of the weight room or the locker room.

Another victim, an Adairsville High School teacher, was also recorded in the weight room. That teacher, who was recorded while using the restroom, subsequently discovered the phone and turned it over to school officials, the report notes.

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