ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE
SOURCE: Associated Press
Prince William County police acknowledged they could have moved faster to investigate several young girls' claims that a longtime school employee may have videotaped them in a bathroom.
Police angered parents last week by waiting days to seize video cameras and tapes from Potomac High School and the home of activities director John Jenkins.
Three girls told authorities that on Aug. 18 Jenkins escorted them to a school bathroom where the girls said they saw a hidden video camera.
Police said they were continuing to review material seized from the school and from Jenkins, including more than 110 videotapes and four cameras. No charges have been filed against Jenkins, a 30-year school employee.
Jenkins, who has overseen athletics and extracurricular activities at Potomac, was suspended with pay Aug. 19. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Jenkins, 55, invited the girls to leave a baseball game at Potomac and ride a quarter-mile with him to the one-stall faculty restroom, court documents say. The girls, ages 10 to 14, noticed a cardboard box with a small hole cut out, the documents say.
Parents of the girls say they confronted Jenkins that night after their daughters described the incident. One parent called police. A police officer arrived and interviewed Jenkins but did not seize a video camera at the scene, and investigators angered the parents by waiting two days to search Jenkins' home and three days to search the school and Jenkins's office for any evidence.
Without mentioning specific officers, police officials on Monday acknowledged that the inquiry got off to a rocky start.
``We probably should have had more experienced people involved earlier in this case,'' said Capt. Ron Sullins, commander of the county police department's criminal investigations division. ``We were slower than I would have liked ... but I don't think it will dramatically jeopardize the investigation. I think we're fine.''
Parents have alleged that on Aug. 17 and 18, Jenkins used the golf cart to ferry as many as nine girls from the ball field to the faculty restroom, passing several other restrooms along the way.
Court records say that after being told of the bathroom video camera, one girl's mother immediately searched the bathroom, found an empty box with a hole cut out of it and confronted Jenkins, whom she said she had just seen carrying a video camera out of the school.
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