This assignment was one of the most emotionally difficult cases I have ever worked on. Fuller put me on the case with Tom, for reasons unknown. But, the case was based at South Central High School, where nude photos of the female students had been going around the school. Girls were getting expelled for these photos, and one was put in the hospital after attempting to take her own life because of it. Every single girl claimed that they did not take these photos, and Tom and I were assigned to figure out how these photos of child pornography were getting passed around. Mickey Mitchell and Tom Bradshaw were reporting for duty.
I sat with Tom at lunch after our third day of school and I said, "whoever is taking these explicit photos does not care about their privacy. They're keeping their faces in them for crying out loud."
I rested my head in my hand with my elbow on the table as I poked my fork at my salad. I wasn't hungry. I was pissed.
"I know what you mean." Tom nodded and took a bite of his hamburger. "It's so disrespectful."
"And we can't even see the background, so we can't tell where these photos are being taken." I rolled my eyes and viciously stabbed a lettuce from my plate and accidentally scraped the fork with my teeth as I ate it angrily.
"I'm just as upset about this as you, but don't be taking it out on the fork."
"I'm sorry," I said and put the fork down. "I'm just so... pissed. I hope that whoever is doing this goes away for a long time."
"Me too."
I added, "I think we should check the computers of every teacher in this place."
"You think?"
"Just to be safe," I said. Computers in classrooms are a relatively new thing, I did not want to overlook them.
"I don't think we can get a warrant for that reasoning," Tom pointed out.
"How about if we can figure out where the photos are being taken?" I asked.
Tom thought for a second then nodded. "That should be enough."
The lunch bell rang and we were off to our next class. Mine was gym. I walked into the girls locker room and heard sniffling coming from the bathroom. I walked in and saw a few girls in their gym attire, comforting a girl crying on the bathroom floor.
"What's wrong?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe. Mickey Mitchell was quite the opposite of Tom Cruise's Maverick Mitchell from Top Gun; I had to be quite, kind, considerate, and not stand out as much as I could. I needed the students to be comfortable with me.
One of the girls came over and whispered to me, "you've heard about photos of us being taken and shown to everyone in the school, right?"
I nodded.
"Well, Meghan just got this in her locker," she handed me a photograph. I covered some areas with my thumb so I did not disrespect her, but I noticed that the shorts she was holding in the picture looked like the ones she was currently wearing for gym.
I handed the picture back and squatted down to Meghan and asked her, "you got that today?"
Meghan nodded through her tears. Then, the door opened and the physical education teacher was calling us to come out. All the girls stood up and left, and he yelled at me to get dressed. I cautiously set my backpack down and pulled out the traditional gray gym shirt and a pair of shorts from my bag. I hid behind a wall of lockers to get dressed, being extremely quiet.
I scanned the room, not seeing any cameras or hidden anything in the locker room. Frustrated, I walked over to the bathroom where there was a giant mirror next to the sinks. I was going to splash some water in my face, but I tripped over a bag and nearly ran into the mirror. I put my hands up and caught myself against the reflective surface. When I was stable, I took my hand off the mirror and noticed something weird. I tapped the glass with my finger, and realized that there was no gap between my finger and my reflection. This was a one-way mirror. This told me that whoever was on the other side of this wall, had access to seeing that was going on in the girls locker room.
While the class period was still going, I quickly rushed to the class I knew that Tom was in. I knocked softly and walked in, and the teacher scolded me for not being in the dress code.
"I'm sorry, but I need Tom Bradshaw," I said to her, and pointed to Tom who was sitting at a desk.
"What for?" She asked, still disgusted at me.
I made up a white lie, "a kid had a bloody nose in class. Mr. Lee said that he knows that Tom has experience with them, so he wants his help."
The teacher didn't seem to buy it but let Tom leave anyway. We were walking down the hallway and he asked me, "bloody nose? That's the best you could come up with?"
I chuckled, "it was the best I could come up with. But listen, I found out that the mirror in the girls locker room is a one-way mirror. Whoever is on the other side must be taking the photos."
Tom's eyes widened. He said, "the other side is the gym teachers office."
I raised my eyebrows, and we both bolted to the main office as fast as we could. Tom called up Fuller with their phone, and I went back to the locker room to grab my bag. I tried going into the gym teachers office, but it was locked. When I went back to the main office, Tom said that Fuller was going to be down soon with some more cops. We headed back to the locker room, making sure that no one came in room. The uniformed cops finally showed up, and locked everything down.
The next day at the chapel, Fuller told us that child pornography was found on the gym teachers computer, and he was arrested. All copies of photos taken of the girls were destroyed, and every boy who was distributing them were punished to the highest degree.
I still felt terrible for all the girls who suffered having their privacy taken away and were completely violated at their school, where they should feel safe. I could not believe that something like that went on for so long. I hoped I would never have to hear about another case like this again.
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