Former Collier County elementary teacher admitted to placing recording device in girl’s bathroom

A former Collier County teacher admitted to authorities he installed a recording device in a girl’s bathroom at the school where he taught, according to a criminal offense affidavit.

Diego Alberto Rojas-Pulido was booked into Lee County Jail before being transferred to Collier County where he will face a judge on Thursday.

The investigation into Rojas-Pulido, 37, began on Wednesday after one student told a school counselor at Pinecrest Elementary School there was a recording device in the bathroom.

According to the affidavit, three students had told Rojas-Pulido about the device. He removed it but did not report it to the school administration because he believed it to be a headset, according to the affidavit.

He initially denied purchasing the device, the document shows. Investigators asked him to take a polygraph test, but Rojas-Pulido rescheduled it.

On Thursday, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Rojas-Pulido’s home after his roommate called to report he had attempted to die by suicide.

When authorities arrived they found Rojas-Pulido in the bathtub and began rendering aid.

Deputies also found a flash drive on top of his safe with a note that stated: “to Collier Sheriff’s and my family.”

The drive included his will, final goodbyes and an “admission of guilt.”

In a note to his mother, he apologizes “for the mistake he made and describing that he had a problem for 30 years and he had a sickness in his head for as long as he could remember.”

He also said: “I admit my guilt of having placed a recording device in a bathroom. No one else did it but me. I have ordered these devices and always chickened out, and this time I was caught.”

Rojas-Pulido remains in custody at the Collier County Jail.