THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110225
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
At least 50 parents have brought pictures of their daughters to police who are trying to identify the girls who appear on more than 300 videotapes confiscated from the home of a Wilson High School track coach.
The tapes were confiscated on July 31, and it may be weeks before all the parents know for sure whether their daughters were unsuspectingly taped while they undressed at the school. Police have charged 45-year-old John W. Crute in the taping.
``It is such a slow, tedious process because you have to view the whole tape,'' said Helivi L. Holland, an assistant commonwealth's attorney.
Crute turned himself in to police Aug. 1. The case began when an officer found a video camera at Wilson. The camera contained a tape of a 15-year-old girl who investigators allege was videotaped through a hole in a storage room wall adjacent to the locker room.
Police then executed a search warrant at Crute's Portsmouth home, where they found 300 videotapes.
Crute has been charged with one felony, production of sexually explicit pictures of a child under the age of 18, and one misdemeanor, the unlawful filming or photographing of a minor.
Holland said Crute could be charged with as many as 10 additional felonies. The charges will be presented to the grand jury in September or October.
Investigators have viewed only a fraction of the videotapes, Holland said. She said police have seen about 30 different girls so far on the tapes, and have identified about 15.
Holland promised an update on the progress of the investigation before it is completed. Police have said it could take up to six weeks to review the tapes.
Crute is free on bail.
KEYWORDS: ARREST by CNB