Coach pleads innocent to video-recording girls

A former Booneville High School teacher and coach has pleaded innocent to 11 counts of video voyeurism accusing him of secretly video recording girls changing clothes in a high school bathroom.

Mark Aaron Smith, 39, of Booneville entered the plea Tuesday through his attorney, Ernie Witt of Ozark, who also waived Smith’s scheduled Oct. 6 arraignment in Logan County Circuit Court.

Court records show Smith was freed Friday on a $30,000 bond.

The charges against him said that on Aug. 28, Smith placed a cellphone in the girls’ bathroom of the Booneville High School field house and secretly recorded 11 female students without their permission.

An arrest warrant affidavit said the girls ranged in age from 13 to 17. A news release from the school superintendent’s office said the 11 girls’ parents were notified, all females students in grades seven to 12 were given general information about the secret recording, and counseling was made available to students.

Video voyeurism is a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The affidavit said the cellphone recorded Smith placing it in a soap dispenser in the bathroom and the person who discovered it on Aug. 30 removing it from the dispenser. The affidavit also said Smith downloaded the images from the cell phone to his classroom computer.

After it was found, Smith admitted to School Superintendent John Parrish the cellphone was his but denied knowing how it turned up in the girls’ bathroom soap dispenser, according to the affidavit.