A former Walker County, Ga., kindergarten teacher is scheduled to plead guilty in a federal child exploitation case.
Charles Mark McCormack signed a plea this week, and he is supposed to appear in a U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala., on Monday. McCormack secretly filmed a 5- or 6-year-old girl urinating in his bathroom, according to a criminal complaint.
McCormack taught kindergarten at Chattanooga Valley Elementary School from 2002-16 before he retired amid a federal investigation. He had been the subject of two other criminal inquiries, though the Walker County Sheriff’s Office did not pursue charges after looking into the complaints. In both cases, female students in McCormack’s classes accused him of abuse.
The current case against Mc-Cormack began in 1998, according to a complaint. McCormack, who lived in Muscle Shoals, Ala., at the time, allegedly set up a camera in his bathroom. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent said footage from the camera shows McCormack walking out of the bathroom. A 5- or 6-year-old girl then walks in.
Soon after, according to the complaint, McCormack’s girlfriend at the time found the video. She said she called the Muscle Shoals Police Department, but officers wanted her to file a formal accusation in person. For reasons unexplained in the court document, the woman declined.