Principal had 10 hidden cameras
A Santa Clara elementary school principal charged Monday with six drug counts also had 10 hidden cameras in his San Francisco apartment, including one hidden in a stuffed animal, according to police.
Eric Lewis, 42, was arrested Thursday at the Caltrain station at Fourth and King streets in San Francisco on charges of furnishing methamphetamine and GHB, a date-rape drug, to an undercover drug officer.
The officer, who works for the Santa Clara County Drug Task Force, contacted Lewis through a gay dating website after receiving a tip that Lewis might be involved in drugs.
Police said a search of Lewis’ apartment on 15th Street in the Mission District turned up seven ecstasy pills, 4.8 grams of methamphetamine, four vials of GHB, three methamphetamine pipes and a scale with drug residue.
Investigators with the drug task force also found 10 mini-cameras in a bedroom closet, including one that was hidden as the nose of a teddy bear, the police report said. Other cameras were concealed as a coat hanger, a lighter and a watch, police said.
Investigators said they seized the cameras, hard drives and computer as well as all the drugs and paraphernalia. Lewis remains in the Santa Clara County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail. He is on unpaid administrative leave from the school.
Lewis was charged Monday with five felony drug counts, including two counts of transportation, sale or distribution of meth and GHB and three counts of possessing meth, GHB and ecstasy for sale. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Investigators found no evidence that any of Lewis’ alleged activities involved Montague Elementary School in Santa Clara, where he had been principal for seven years. Lewis did send texts related to drug furnishing while he was at work at Montague, the police report said.