GARDENS MAN TAKES PLEA DEAL IN VIDEO VOYEUR CASE

He takes plea deal in case claiming he used a hidden camera to take photos of a child.

WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach Gardens High School’s former athletic director is now headed to prison after he accepted a plea agreement in the case surrounding his arrest last year on claims he used a secret camera hidden in a clock to spy on and take nude photos of a child.

William Weed, 51, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count each of video voyeurism, attempted promotion of sexual performance by a child and unlawful use of a two-way recording device.

Circuit Judge Laura Johnson as part of Weed’s plea agreement sentenced him to 18 months in prison and 42 months’ probation.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend that federal prosecutors drop a related federal charge against him. The former athletic director will have to register as a sex offender, and will not be able to own or possess a computer while on probation, according to the agreement.

The plea comes months after Weed was arrested in May and subsequently resigned from his job as Palm Beach Gardens High School’s athletic director.

At the time, he had been with the district for 22 years and worked since 2006 at Gardens High as a teacher, crosscountry coach and director of its sports programs.

He was removed from its campus on Military Trail shortly after Palm Beach Gardens police began their investigation in mid-February.

According to arrest reports, Weed gave the child the clock as a gift and watched the child for about a year through its secret camera while it was in the child’s bedroom. Investigators said they found a memory card inside the camera with 35 pictures and 149 videos on it.

Some of the images show the child in various stages of undress, including a few in which the child is fully nude, city police said.