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Parents of two East High School students alleged in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that the decision to place hidden cameras in two rooms at the school violated not only the students’ civil rights but the district’s own policy on cameras.

The civil rights lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, also alleges that a school security official failed to point out the cameras to a state criminal investigator who was searching for hidden cameras at East while investigating an unrelated criminal case that also involved hidden cameras.

The parents, Patanne Coffey and Anna Hauser, also filed an open records lawsuit against the district last year alleging the district was dragging its feet in turning over records about the discovery last year of two cameras that were placed in rooms at East where they would have captured students with disabilities having their clothing changed.

The civil rights lawsuit against the district and 11 employees — most of whom no longer work for the district — alleges that the cameras violated the privacy rights of two students and subjected them to unreasonable searches. Among the defendants are then-security directors Joe Balles and Mark Brown, both former high-ranking Madison police officers.

The lawsuit alleges Balles knew where the cameras were placed and did not point them out to state Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Jesse Crowe, who was searching East in December 2019 for hidden cameras as part of a criminal investigation involving former East teacher David Kruchten. Kruchten was later convicted of attempting to create child pornography using hidden cameras on school-sanctioned overnight field trips.

The district has said the cameras at East were placed in a coaches office within a locker room in 2019 to catch a custodian sleeping on the job.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified presumed or compensatory damages for the emotional distress, pain and suffering, public humiliation and embarrassment experienced by the students, along with punitive damages, for acts “carried out maliciously or with reckless disregard for the plaintiffs’ fundamental rights.”

District spokesperson Tim LeMonds said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Now-former district electrical engineer Joe Anderson arrived at East early on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, to do some work and saw what he thought was a third-shift custodian sleeping in the backseat of a vehicle during his overnight shift. Anderson told David Kapp, then a building services assistant supervisor, and Balles, then East’s security director.

From Sept. 3 to Sept. 6, 2019, Anderson, Kapp and Balles sought approval from district officials, including then-district labor relations director Heidi Tepp and the district’s lawyers, to place hidden cameras around East to catch the custodian sleeping on the job. They worked with other employees, including Brown, the district’s head of security, and custodial supervisors John Hagen and Jeff Fischer to decide where to put the cameras.

In an email on Sept. 6, 2019, to Balles, Tepp, Kapp and others, Anderson wrote: “Only with prior approval can a camera that does not look like a camera be deployed. We have two going up at East next weekend ... This project was approved by Heidi,” referring to Tepp.

Tepp and then-district general counsel Matthew Bell, along with two other district officials at the time, Haley Gausmann and Jeff Knutsen, gave Anderson, Kapp and Balles approval to install the hidden cameras in at least two spots — inside Room B32H, a coaches office in a boys locker room; and in Room 127, used for working with students who have disabilities.

Room 127 contained a cot and was used as a changing area for students with disabilities, including changing soiled undergarments. The room was locked from the outside and the window on its door had frosted glass. It appeared to be private.

Then-district electrician Luke Frame installed the cameras in hollowed smoke detectors in the rooms on Sept. 6, 2019.

After Frame installed the cameras, Forward Electric came to “hardwire” the cameras.

Anderson gave an IP address and password to Balles and Kapp so they could view live images captured by the cameras. The cameras were always recording.

The cameras remained in place after the investigation involving the sleeping employee ended in late 2019. Frame told Madison police he “took the cameras out of service” in 2020, but they were still wired and produced a live feed, even though they were no longer recording.

In December 2019, when Crowe from DCI came to East to look for hidden devices as part of the Kruchten investigation, Balles accompanied him and knew about the cameras in Rooms 127 and B32H. Crowe did not find them.

In July 2020, the cameras were removed, but the hollowed-out smoke detectors were left in place. On Jan. 8, 2021, district employee Scott Wolfe stumbled across the hollowed-out detector in Room B32H and saw a two-inch hole drilled into the ceiling. He told then-Principal Brendan Kearney, who called police.

The district hired a law firm, MWH Law Group, to conduct its own investigation.

The lawsuit states MWH was hired “so that (the district) could hide the results of the investigation from the public.”

Despite district policies that bar the use of hidden cameras without approval from the district superintendent, or the use of any cameras to record nude images of anyone in a locker room or changing room, the lawsuit states, the district “acted with deliberate indifference to the constitutionally protected rights” of the two students “by maintaining an informal pattern and practice of sanctioning the use of covert surveillance devices at Madison public schools.”

The lawsuit states Tepp is quoted in a police report as saying secret surveillance cameras had been used at East in the “past ten years.”

By allowing the designation of authority to approve the cameras to Tepp and district lawyers, the lawsuit states, the district disregarded its own policy.

Besides the district, those named as defendants in the lawsuit are Tepp, Anderson, Balles, Kapp, Frame, Brown, Bell, Knutsen, Gausmann, Hagen and Fischer. Only Gausmann still works for the district, according to its directory.

Jennifer Mallon guides eight dogs along a walkway adjacent to Warner Park during an outing with the pets of clients of the Ruff Trails canine hiking and training enterprise in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. Along for the outing are Penny, Bo, Greta, Coconut, Torks, Baxter, Toby and Rishi. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Genevieve Faucher kisses her son, Atlas, 5, who was diagnosed with Pompe disease, a rare disorder, at the age of four months, at their home in Oshkosh, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. Wisconsin has approved adding Pompe to its newborn screening program but hasn't started testing for the condition yet. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

A group of friends sing and play following the Eid Al-Fitr prayer held at Olin Park in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 13, 2021. Eid Al-Fitr is a Muslim religious holiday that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Jase Frost-Ohlsen, 12, uses a rope swing he made with his brother to dangle over the Yahara River in Madison, Wis., Monday, May 3, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Artist Angele Nyberg assembles elements of her environmental art installation, “To Hold You,” at James Madison Park in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. The piece was commissioned through the Madison Arts Commission’s BLINK program and will offer visitors to the opening the opportunity to weave reclaimed, naturally dyed strips of fabric into the upright hammock wall. An interactive work, the assemblage tilts back slightly, allowing participants to lean into the weaving while gazing along the shores of Lake Mendota. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Peyton Hein, left, a senior at Waunakee High School, and Jacky Duarte, a senior at Sun Prairie High School, watch Sun Prairie's season-opening spring football game against Verona from a parking lot outside the new Bank of Sun Prairie Stadium at Ashley Field in Sun Prairie, Wis., Friday, March 26, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Visitors to Olbrich Botanical Gardens’ GLEAM nighttime art exhibit explore “Tesseract,” a light and sound installation by Madison, Wis. artists Brett Adams and Bo Raasch Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. The annual event features large scale light installations created by local, regional, and international designers displayed throughout the gardens’ 16 acres. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

As hot, humid weather settles into the region, Ilona Steigerzat, 14, generates their own breeze during a swing at Yahara Place Park Madison, Wis., Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Members of DanzTrad, including Yuriza Leonperalta, at right, perform traditional Mexican dance during the Shifting Gears Bike Path Dance Festival at Olin Park in Madison, Wis., Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Storybook Ballet founder Meredith Mast makes adjustments to the form and posture of the ballerinas during class in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Two-year-old triplets, from left, Aiya, Blaire and Charlotte Cahoon, from Madison, feast on strawberries as their mom, Autumn, grandma, Julie Stough, of Seattle, at left, and sister, Grace, 4, fill the basket with their pickings during a visit to Carandale Fruit Farm in Oregon, Wis., Wednesday, June 16, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Francesca Hong kisses her son George Morris goodbye on his first day of kindergarten at Lapham Elementary School in Madison, Wis., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Jen Korz, executive director at Heartland Farm Sanctuary, tries to get the attention of Maxwell, a Yorkshire pig, on the farm in Verona, Wis., Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Brothers Tom and Mike Duerst harvest corn on their farm off of Schaller Road in Verona, Wis., Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. The United States Department of Agriculture reports harvest of corn for grain across the state is 61 percent complete, which is 10 days ahead of the 5-year average. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Kari Oates, right, and her husband Donald walk through what was the entryway of their home before an F-3 tornado swept through Boscobel, Wis., Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Amber Dolphin reads a book to her daughters, Ivy Moechnig, 1, and Maya Moechnig, 5 (not pictured), in the children’s section of the newly reopened Pinney Library in Madison, Wis., Monday, May 24, 2021. Madison’s libraries reopened Monday after being closed to in-person visits for 15 months. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Members of UW-Madison’s Class of 2021 revel in the chance to do one last “jump around” during the 2021 Spring Commencement at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. Saturday, May 8, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Jill Uhe attends a Memorial Day service with her children, Brianna, 8, and Benny, 11, at right, at the Wells - Davis - Young - Neal American Legion Post 209 Memorial Park in Orfordville, Wis., Monday, May 31, 2021. Many residents of the small village remembered Cpl. Benjamin Neal, a 21-year-old Orfordville resident who died in Afghanistan in 2012 when he was 21. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Madison firefighter Bree Bower, left, shows Sienna Tadych, 8, of Madison, how to work a fire hose for CampHERO, a partnership between Madison Area Technical College and Wisconsin Badgerland Girl Scouts to give girls in kindergarten through high school hands-on experience in protective services at the college's Protective Services Building in Madison, Wis., Friday, July 30, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Nurse Teeney Beidel, center, puts on personal protective equipment to assist a team of nurses rotating a patient on a ventilator at the Aspirus Medford Hospital in Medford, Wis., Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Numbered swatches of fabric, each representing a death from COVID-19 in the state, hang as part of a memorial display at Trinity Methodist Church in Madison, Wis. Thursday, March 4, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Friends of three senior high school students killed in a vehicle crash grieve at the site along Mineral Point Road in Veronal, Wis., Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The students, Simon Bilessi, 17, Evan Kratochwill, 18, and Jack Miller, 17, were killed when their vehicle was struck from behind by a motorist who is facing charges of multiple counts of homicide in the incident. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

UW-Madison sophomore and Army ROTC cadet Sydney Bobolz plants an American flag on the lawn of Bascom Hill as part of a Veterans Day program held by the Wisconsin Union and University Veteran Services in Madison, Wis., Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Oregon and Sun Prairie line up to sing the national anthem under a rainbow at the Bank of Sun Prairie Stadium at Ashley Field in Sun Prairie, Wis., Thursday, May 6, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Confetti falls from the ceiling as Wisconsin players celebrate after defeating Nebraska to clinch share of the Big Ten volleyball title at the UW Field House in Madison, Wis., Friday, Nov. 26, 2021.AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Fans of the Milwaukee Bucks celebrate during the fourth quarter in the “Deer District” outside Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The team earned a 105-98 win over the Phoenix Suns to win their first NBA Championship title since 1971. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Milwaukee Bucks Grand Dancer Juju Gramms hands out "Fear the Deer" towels to fans gathered at the Deer District in Milwaukee, Wis., Wednesday, July 14, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Waunakee’s Sarah Bova, left, and Chloe Larsen, right cross the finish line of the girls 400 meter dash as the event’s winner, Brooklyn Sandvig of Chippewa Falls falls to a first place finish in the event during the WIAA Division 1 state track and field championships at UW-La Crosse in La Crosse, Wis., Saturday, June 26, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Lions running back D'Andre Swift (32) jumps over Packers cornerback Kevin King (20) during the second half at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin Badgers running back Jalen Berger (8) is brought down by Eastern Michigan Eagles defensive back T.J. Peavy (8) and Eastern Michigan Eagles defensive back Mark Lee Jr. (17) during the first quarter at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin forward Maddi Wheeler (28) celebrates her goal with teammate defenseman Grace Bowlby (13) and defenseman Mayson Toft (14), at left, in the second period of a women's hockey game against St. Cloud St. at LaBahn Arena in Madison, Wis., Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

New Glarus-Monticello's Darris Schuett (13) is tackled by Belleville's J Jay Wenger (3) and Tyler Fahey (5) during the first half of a game between the teams at New Glarus High School in New Glarus, Wis. Friday, May 7, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

DeForest's Jocelyn Pickhardt hugs teammate, Alexys Scheuerell, front, after crossing the finish line and qualifying for state in the girls 800 meter relay during the WIAA Division 1 track and field sectional at Mansfield Stadium in Madison, Wis., Thursday, June 17, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Waunakee’s Max Brud celebrates with his coach, Betsy Zadra, after holing a 98-yard shot for an eagle on the 13th hole of the WIAA Division 1 state golf championship in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., Tuesday, June 15, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Snow and frost hold to the branches of trees along University Bay Drive on the campus of UW-Madison in Madison, Wis. Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

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Ed Treleven is the courts reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal.

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“The high school girls felt tremendously violated and are still dealing with those emotions,” attorney for the nine plaintiffs Jeff Scott Olson said. “What you would expect a responsible school district to do is to be relatively transparent when addressing the situation.”

However, David Kruchten wrote, it would be a lie to say there was "zero sexual component" to his actions.

Policy regarding the use of cameras on school property had not been updated since 2001 and recent incidents, including the discovery of hidden surveillance cameras at East, raised the need to update several outdated board policies, including this one.

“This was an urgent matter, it impacted so many of our children and families and we should have moved on it,” former board president Gloria Reyes said. “The administration should have given us the full report with policy changes.”

The report concluded "no reportable abuse occurred" and no policy prohibited former teacher David Kruchten from keeping student room keys.

"We're considering those recommendations," Tim LeMonds, district spokesman said Thursday, though he declined to name employees who could be disciplined in connection to the incident.

The cameras were installed in violation of Madison School District policy to monitor a custodian suspected of sleeping on the job.

"I am outraged a policy of this nature would be violated," Superintendent Carlton Jenkins said. The district has launched an investigation into the matter through a local law firm. 

The attorney for the woman accused of killing and dismembering a man at a Green Bay home has filed a motion to have the defendant evaluated for mental competency.

A Sun Prairie man was sentenced Thursday to 51 months in federal prison for illegally possessing ammunition, the office of U.S. Attorney Timothy O’Shea reported.

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