Ex-CCSD janitor accused of videotaping coworkers as they used the bathroom
A former Givens Elementary School janitor could face up to three years in jail if he’s convicted of recording images of three female teachers as they used a staff-only unisex bathroom in December.
Gary Higbee had worked part-time as a janitor at the Summerlin school for about four months when he was arrested Dec. 22. He is no longer a Clark County School District employee, officials said.
During an interview with school police, Higbee said he learned how to do a hidden recording of people using the bathroom through research on the Internet.
Higbee, who is free on $6,000 bail, used a black Cisco Flip recorder and disguised it in flowery paper and placed it behind a plant on a counter facing the toilet, according to his arrest report. He got the camera from his other job at Southwest Airlines, where he worked as a ramp agent, he told investigators.
One of the teachers filmed discovered the camera on Dec. 19. School police and staff began an investigation and discovered that the camera had recorded three different women in five instances using the toilet.
Higbee was quickly identified as a suspect as he was seen lingering around the staff bathroom after people entered and exited. Higbee was also seen on the video recordings, the arrest report said.
Sgt. Mitch Maciszak said a search was conducted of Higbee’s residence and no other videos were found and there was no evidence that any of the videos had been disseminated through the Internet.
Maciszak stressed that no students were recorded.
Higbee faces three gross misdemeanor counts of capturing images of another person’s private parts. If convicted, he faces probation or one to three years in the Clark County Detention Center.
A background check of Higbee was conducted before he was hired, but school police said no problems were found.
Higbee’s lawyer, Damian Sheets, said he was bothered that his client’s arrest report was released to the public before he or his client had seen a copy of it.
Sheets questioned whether the district was trying to smear his client’s reputation and “inflame the community” by going public with the arrest two months after the arrest.
“My experience with Mr. Higbee is he is an honorable, hardworking, honest person,” Sheets said.
School police held a news conference about the case on Tuesday.
Sheets said that Higbee is planning on pleading not guilty to the charges at a March 9 arraignment hearing before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman.
The lawyer asked the public to keep an open mind and said Higbee has a constitutional right to be presumed innocent.
Contact Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or702-224-5512. Find him on Twitter: @fjmccabe
