DELAWARE, Ohio — A former Columbus Alternative High School teacher who took up-skirt videos of students for seven years was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday.
Justin Foley, 48, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to sexually exploiting a minor and possessing child pornography.
According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, Foley was a chemistry teacher at the high school where he used his cell phone to secretly take videos of his females students under their skirts and shorts during the school day.
Court documents say the Delaware Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about multiple images of child sexual abuse material that were uploaded through multiple Google email accounts. Investigators tracked the IP addresses to Foley.
During the investigation, officers received another tip about five of the IP addresses belonging to Columbus City Schools.
Delaware County law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Foley's residence in September 2022. Court documents say Foley admitted to creating videos in the classroom and hallways at the school where he taught and some of the videos were created as recently as the prior week.
A review of Foley's devices showed multiple videos that were voyeuristic in nature and appear to be self-produced. The videos were recorded at the high school, local department stores in central Ohio, public areas of downtown Delaware and dressing rooms at different unidentified locations.
In the videos he secretly recorded, Foley would hide his phone or place it beside or behind the victims in an attempt to record up their skirts or shorts.
Authorities also recovered more than 1,000 images of child sexual abuse material from his devices.
Foley was arrested and charged in Delaware County in September 2022. He was charged federally two months later.
