Former teacher and robotics team coach sentenced for secretly recording minors in bathrooms

IRVINE, Calif. (TCN) — A 38-year-old former teacher and robotics team coach will spend over 17 years behind bars for secretly recording minors in bathrooms for nearly three years.

In a Sept. 10 news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said a judge sentenced Siu Kong Sit to 210 months in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material. He will also be placed on lifetime supervised release and is set for a restitution hearing in November. Sit pleaded guilty in March.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, beginning in at least February 2020, Sit, who worked as a teacher at Beckman High School, began secretly placing recording devices in restrooms on campus. Federal prosecutors said he “regularly reviewed the videos captured by the cameras and downloaded the videos that were of interest to him.”

In May 2022, Sit reportedly went to Texas for a tournament while serving as the school’s robotics team coach. The U.S. Attorney’s office said he installed a camera in a bathroom at the hotel where minor students were staying during the event.

Sit’s crimes weren’t uncovered until Feb. 27, 2023, when a maintenance worker at Beckman High School found hidden recording devices in a restroom near the pool that were used to record multiple victims while in the bathroom, according to the Irvine Police Department. Officers responded to the scene and arrested Sit on initial charges of possession of child pornography, burglary, and two misdemeanor charges.

After the cameras were found, federal prosecutors said authorities seized multiple digital devices from Sit’s residence, as well as two external storage drives from the cameras.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, investigators uncovered dozens of images and videos of child pornography in Sit’s possession, including media of children using bathrooms “in various states of undress.” Some of Sit’s minor victims were reportedly under the age of 12.

Federal prosecutors said authorities seized at least 22 photos and one video of child sexual abuse material on one hard drive, including multiple showing a toddler engaged in sexual acts. On a separate hard drive, officials reportedly found at least 150 images and several videos.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office plans to charge Sit for the adult victims captured on the hidden cameras. State court charges for the minor victims were dismissed so that the federal case could continue.

United States Attorney Martin Estrada said, “This defendant was every parent’s nightmare — rather than care for the safety and well-being of students, he exploited them in the most abhorrent way.”

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