A former high school teacher in California who secretly recorded children with hidden cameras installed in school bathrooms has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in federal prison, officials said.
In addition to his sentence, Siu Kong Sit, 38, was ordered to be placed on lifetime supervised release upon his eventual release from prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a press release on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Sit, who is a former teacher at Beckman High School in Irvine, Calif., pleaded guilty on March 29 to one count of possession of child sexual abuse material. As part of his plea agreement, Sit admitted to “knowingly possessing images and videos of minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexual conduct,” according to the release.
Prosecutors said Sit began installing the hidden cameras in bathrooms on the Beckman High School campus in February 2020. He would regularly look at the videos and download the ones that were “of interest to him,” the release states.
In May 2022, while Sit was working as the high school robotics team coach, he put a hidden camera in the bathroom of a Texas hotel room where underage students on the robotics team were staying for a tournament.
“From 2020 to 2023, Sit viewed and downloaded hundreds of images of children and adults, in various states of undress, using restrooms,” the release states.
In February 2023, after the hidden cameras had been discovered, authorities seized multiple devices and camera storage drives from Sit’s Rowland Heights, Calif., home. A search of the devices revealed “dozens of images and videos” of child sexual abuse material, including children in “various states of undress” while using the bathroom.
“The victims that Sit recorded without their consent were under the age of 18, and some of the victims were under the age of 12,” prosecutors said.
They added that a hard drive owned by Sit contained at least 22 images and one video of “a toddler engaged in sexual activity” and another had at least 150 images and four videos of child sexual abuse material.
“This defendant was every parent’s nightmare – rather than care for the safety and well-being of students, he exploited them in the most abhorrent way,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said. “It is important that we send a strong message of zero tolerance for those who take advantage of children. My office will continue to prosecute offenders who prey on our youth to the fullest extent allowed by law.”
According to the release, Sit is also expected to face criminal charges in Orange County Superior Court regarding the alleged adult victims recorded by the hidden cameras.
