Collier County teacher accused of placing a camera in school bathroom booked into jail

School is supposed to be a safe place for children. But, one teacher is accused of committing crimes against them and has been arrested for those crimes.

Diego Alberto Rojas-Pulido faces one count of video voyeurism, a second-degree felony, after the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said three students discovered what appeared to be a video recording device in a bathroom stall at Pinecrest Elementary School in Immokalee.

The announcement of the investigation came on Friday, but Rojas-Pulido was not booked into Lee County Jail until Saturday because he was in the hospital after attempting to die by suicide, according to authorities.

He was arrested on a Collier County warrant and booked into Lee County Jail but will be transferred to Collier County.

The restroom where the recording device was found was across the hall from the classroom where Rojas-Pulido was teaching on Tuesday. First, those students reported it to Rojas-Pulido who then ran to the bathroom to remove the camera. However, he didn’t report it to the school’s administration.

Then, on Wednesday, one of those same students told a school counselor, who then reported it to the school’s principal and the sheriff’s office. Collier deputies immediately removed Rojas-Pulido from the school.

On Thursday evening, deputies were called to Rojas-Pulido’s residence home in Naples after he attempted to take his own life. He was then transported to a Lee County hospital.

David Thomas is a former police officer and a professor at FGCU. “When he goes to jail, he will be put in under observation, to make sure that he can’t commit suicide, usually what happens is they put somebody they put him in a cell by themselves, and they watch him somebody checks on him every 15 minutes or every half hour until it’s determined that he’s no longer a threat to himself,” Thomas said. “My belief is, is that there, they will probably get a search warrant for his house and his computer.”

As the investigation continues, Collier County Public Schools sent WINK News a statement:

Parents who have children at Pinecrest have taken to Facebook to talk about the arrest. One parent said they received a phone call on Friday from the school even though it happened on Wednesday. Another parent expressed their concerns about their child’s reaction to the incident.