Wednesday, November 27, 2002
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Wednesday, November 27, 2002 |
| Cops bust
SCHS teacher for Internet sex
By JOHN MUNFORD
A teacher at Sandy Creek High School was arrested Friday morning after sheriff's detectives caught him using a webcam on a computer in his classroom to display "a sex act" via the Internet, according to police. Damian T. Belvedere, 44, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of distributing obscene materials and one count of public indecency, according to Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Belvedere was arrested at Sandy Creek Friday morning after he was caught performing "a sex act" on the school-owned computer during his break period, Jordan said. Belvedere, a former wrestling coach for both Sandy Creek and McIntosh High School, has also taught at Starr's Mill High School and has been with the school system for 15 years. He was granted $15,000 bond by Magistrate Bob Ruppenthal on the condition he seek counseling "to include psycho-sexual issues." Belvedere is also restricted from returning to any property operated by the school system. School spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach said steps are being taken to insure students will not come into contact with Belvedere through the school system. School officials are concerned with making sure there is no disruption for students as a permanent replacement is sought for Belvedere's 12th-grade social studies classes, she said. Since Belvedere is a contract employee, his employment status is being investigated by the school system's attorney, Berry-Dreisbach said. The matter has also been referred to the Georgia Professional Practices Commission, which licenses teachers and could revoke Belvedere's certification to teach. School officials sent a letter home to parents Monday about the situation, Berry-Dreisbach said. Jordan said two witnesses from south Georgia who would meet with Belvedere on the Internet cooperated with the investigation. One of the witnesses arranged to meet with him online Friday morning and told detectives via telephone the exact moment to enter the classroom to catch Belvedere in the act, Jordan added. Detectives used a pass key to enter the locked classroom, Jordan said. "We did not arrange the place ... nor how he conducted himself," Jordan said. The witnesses were both adults, and there are no allegations that any juveniles were involved, Jordan said. Both witnesses originally contacted authorities because the location of the "indecent" video appeared to be a school classroom, Jordan said. The witnesses originally contacted the Coweta County Sheriff's Department since Belvedere at one time tried to meet them at a location in Coweta off I-85, Jordan said. Coweta authorities passed the information along to Fayette County after determining he didn't teach there, Jordan added. Jordan said evidence from the school-owned computer indicated that Belvedere would visit the adult chat room "on a daily basis" and detectives believe the incidents have been occurring since the beginning of the school year. Belvedere is only being charged with two incidents that occurred in the past week and the incident witnessed by detectives, Jordan added. Belvedere would "target" women over the age of 30 in the adult-oriented chat room on a Yahoo! Web site, Jordan said. He added that the witnesses did not expose themselves during their online encounters with Belvedere. "He routinely visited that chat room for sex talk," Jordan said, indicating it appeared to be "a daily ritual." Detectives also seized evidence from Belvedere's desk in the classroom that contained his DNA, Jordan said.
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