BISMARCK- The Vermilion County sheriff's office is investigating an incident in which a construction worker spied on students changing in a girls' locker room at Bismarck-Henning High School.
Kenneth A. Gray, 31, of rural Oakwood was arrested on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct, according to Capt. Gary Miller of the Vermilion County sheriff's office. He is scheduled to appear in Vermilion County Circuit Court early next week.
School officials alerted authorities on Wednesday, after they received anonymous phone calls that a member of the construction crew that is building an addition at the high school had been watching the students through a hole in the wall.
?These anonymous calls reported that on several occasions, this person had looked through the hole from a point outside the building into the girls locker room when there were girls present,? Miller said, adding the hole was a couple of inches in diameter. ?After we started looking into it, it did appear there was a person who had made comments that led people to believe he was looking into the locker room.?
Disorderly conduct is a Class B misdemeanor.
?That is the only statute that this falls under,? Miller said, adding the man did not take any pictures or videotape, which would have made it a more serious offense. ?It was just him looking.?
The girls' locker room is at the gymnasium at the school, which is on Holloway Street on the west side of Bismarck. There are currently several building projects going on in the district, including the construction of a new multi-purpose complex, which will house a new gym and cafeteria, next door to the current gym.
Miller said Gray is no longer working at that job site.
Bismarck-Henning Superintendent Randy Hird said that school officials called an assembly Friday afternoon to inform students of the allegations and to answer questions and concerns. He said they also mailed letters to parents.
?We wanted our students and our parents hearing about the basic information from us rather than other sources,? he said.