Police arrest Walter Johnson High employee for allegedly filming students in theater changing room

Media technician charged with sex abuse of minor, police say

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April 17, 2026 9:46 a.m. | Updated: April 17, 2026 9:51 a.m.

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A media services technician at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda was arrested Wednesday after allegedly filming underage female students inside in a changing room near the school’s theater, Montgomery County police said Thursday in a statement. 

James Mulhern III, 43, of Clarksburg was charged with sex abuse of a minor, according to police. He is being held in the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit in Rockville, where he is awaiting a bond hearing, police said. As of Thursday afternoon, Mulhern did not have an attorney listed in online case records.  

According to police, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff notified police Wednesday that on April 7, two students at Walter Johnson found a video camera in the control booth of the school’s theater. One of the students viewed the videos on the camera’s memory card and saw videos that had been recorded inside the girls changing room near the theater.  

According to the statement, the video showed a man placing the camera, which was recording, and leaving the room. Teenage girls later entered the room and began changing in preparation for a theater performance, the statement said. The statement did not say how many girls were in the changing room at the time. 

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One of the students emailed the videos to Principal Nicole Morgan, who identified the man as Mulhern, a media services technician at the school, according to police. Morgan wrote that school administrators were made aware of the incident on Wednesday, and immediately reported it to police.

MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez told Bethesda Today Thursday that the district notified police immediately after being informed of the incident. Police spokesperson Shiera Goff said police didn’t have information about the delay between students finding the video and the incident being reported. 

In a letter to the school community sent Thursday, Morgan said a staff member at the school was placed on leave without pay pending the outcome of a police investigation. The letter did not name the staff member, and noted that the incident is considered an MCPS staff personnel matter and is under police investigation, limiting the amount of information that can be shared.  

“We understand that announcements like this can lead to questions and conversations, and some in our community may feel they are aware of details related to this matter,” Morgan said in the letter. “However, information shared in these situations is often incomplete or unverified. We ask that you do not share or amplify speculative information, as doing so can undermine the ongoing investigation.” 

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According to police, detectives executed a search warrant Wednesday at the school, “where items of evidentiary value were recovered.” The statement did not say what the items were. Several electronic devices were collected during a search of Mulhern’s Clarksburg home, police said. 

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine