As elementary school girls went into the classroom closet and changed into their Halloween costumes, the teacher’s camera was secretly recording them, police said.
Thomas Bavedas, 39, a former Bridgeport elementary school teacher, was already facing sexual assault and child pornography charges.
Monday, he was arrested again on allegations he secretly videotaped the girls last year with a hidden camera.
Police said they searched Bavedas' classroom in June and found a hole in a closet wall that appeared to be shaped to hold a video camera.
"He arranged activities to be performed by female students so he could get desirable video shots of them that were sexually satisfying to him," police Sgt. Jesus Ortiz Jr. said.
Milford police charged Bavedas on Monday with nine counts of voyeurism and nine counts of risk of injury to a minor.
Bavedas resigned from his job as a third-grade teacher at Waltersville School in May after being charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. Police later charged him with possessing tens of thousands of child pornography images on his home computer.
Those cases are pending.
Bavedas, of Milford, had been free after posting bail in the other cases, but a Superior Court judge ordered him held on a $500,000 bond Monday. His case was continued to Jan. 6.
His lawyer, Edmund Collier, said in July that Bavedas was seeking help, but declined to elaborate.
Collier said the "vast majority" of the images found on Bavedas' computer would not be considered child porn under the law. He also said Bavedas was a good teacher by all accounts.
Robert Henry, the chief of staff for the city's schools, declined to comment on the new arrest.
