A 58-year old man who has worked as a janitor at Norton High School for three decades is now facing charges after being accused of taking upskirt photos of an 11-year old girl at the Southeast Asian Water Festival in Lowell.
Thomas Frederick Withers is being charged with accosting/annoying a person of the opposite sex, posing/exhibiting a child in a sex act and disturbing the peace according to the Lowell Sun.
Withers pleaded not guilty to the charges yesterday in Lowell District Court. He will be held without bail until Wednesday when he will be released with a GPS monitoring bracelet and a curfew.
Judge Daniel Crane has ordered Withers to not have a cell phone on him and to not have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.
Withers' attorney Raymond Weicker added that he will likely be fired from his job as a janitor at NHS.
According to allegations made by prosecutor Rachel Pearlman, the father of the girl saw Withers put a cell phone under his daughter's skirt at the festival on Aug. 17. Withers was unable to take a photo before he was caught and was held by the father until police arrived.
Seventeen upskirt photos and 20 videos were found on his phone. Weicker said the content was downloaded and not created by Withers. Weicker added that the photos and videos featured Withers and his friends cross dressing with no children.
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