Plant City Observer

Former Bloomingdale teacher charged with additional 267 counts of video voyeurism

Mark William Ackett, a 50-year-old teacher at Bloomingdale High School, was facing a single charge of video voyeurism in September when he admitted to recording a student while she was changing on campus. 

An investigation by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has found that single charge missed the mark. During the original investigation, his cellphones were seized and the court authorized a search warrant for the devices. According to HCSO, a forensic analysis of the phones found 267 videos and images of girls ranging from the ages of 14 to 18-years-old in various states of undress. 

Ackett, who lives in Plant City, has now been charged with an additional 267 counts of video voyeurism, 73 counts of production of harmful material of a minor and 13 counts of possession of child pornography. 

HCSO said he turned himself in and was taken into custody without incident.

Ackett was a family consumer science teacher and the girl’s track coach at Bloomingdale. In September a student went into a designated changing room in her fashion design classroom to try on clothes and noticed there were two cellphones concealed in the room. One of the phones was recording when she saw it, according to HCSO. She immediately put her clothes back on and reported the incident to the administration, who reached out to HCSO. 

He had been working at Bloomingdale since January of 2017 but was hired by the school district in 1991 where he worked for the district’s central office. The district said Ackett resigned his position with the school. 

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