A West Virginia man was convicted and sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for filming underneath the skirts of high school students in Loudoun County.
Samuel Hermens, 31, received three felony charges of unlawful filming, videotaping or photographing another victim under the age of 18. He will serve an active sentence of two years in the Virginia Department of Corrections, officials said.
"Mr. Hermens betrayed the trust of the entire community," said Judge Douglas Fleming Jr.
News4 is awaiting confirmation from Loudoun County Schools about Hermens' current employment status.
At the time of the incident, Hermens was an itinerant specialized reading teacher for the county school system, according to police. He was arrested after a teacher saw him filming female students in the hallways of Woodgrove High School in October 2018.
Video showed Hermens following closely behind students, turning on his cell phone camera and positioning it under the students' skirts to film their underwear.
Hermens admitted to police that he did the same thing at two other Loudoun County schools. He pleaded guilty to the charges on April 22.
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Four of the victims testified at Wednesday's hearing.
"I never thought this would happen to me; why would someone ever think of doing this?" one of the girls asked.
Fleming also gave Hermens an additional four years of suspended time. Upon release, he will also be placed on 15 years of supervised probation and will be required to register as a sex offender under Virginia's Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act.
"This man is a predator and he was going to do this until he got caught," said Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Nicole Wittman. "When we send our children to school, we expect they will be safe, nurtured and protected by teachers and administrators."
