A long-time Thatcher art teacher was charged with voyeurism and surreptitious photography after his victims told police he had videotaped them while they were changing clothes.

The Graham County Attorney's Office submitted multiple charges to the court against former Thatcher High School Art teacher Stephen Hume on Friday.

The charges are voyeurism, surreptitious photography, attempted voyeurism and attempted surreptitious photography. The first two are class 5 felonies, and the latter two are class 6.

Since the crimes occurred in his district, Justice of the Peace for District 2 Judge Dewey Bryce will review the charges and decide to either issue a summons for Hume to appear in court or a warrant for his arrest.

Hume is no longer in town and is staying at a temporary residence in Chandler.

Thatcher Police were first informed of suspicious activity involving Hume on Oct. 18. A student told police then that she believed Hume had video taped her while changing clothes for an art project.

According to the Thatcher Police report, the student told officers Hume had asked her to come to his class during her free period to take silhouette pictures of her for an art project.

Upon arriving, she said Hume went into the back storage room and closed the door behind him. He then reappeared a minute or two later and instructed the student to change into some black clothing in the storage room. She said Hume told her to not wear a bra so the silhouettes would turn out better, according to the police reports.

The student said she changed into the outfit but did not remove her underclothing because she did not feel comfortable doing so.

After the pictures of her silhouette were shot, Hume led her back to the room and said he would check it to make sure no one was inside.

The student followed Hume into the room and saw him put his hand inside an eraser box.

After Hume left the room, the student changed back into her normal clothes and heard a beeping sound coming from the area of the eraser box.

The student said she looked closer at the box and noticed a hole cut into it and a silver camera placed inside.

The following day on Oct. 19, the same student informed police Hume had just done the same thing with another girl that morning.

Thatcher officers then joined High School Principal Paul Nelson and removed Hume from his classroom.

The eraser box with the hole cut out of it was located in the storage room, but officials could not locate the camera.

Nelson demanded Hume produce the camera and followed him to his truck to retrieve it.

Hume later admitted to police that when he retrieved his Canon Power Shot camera, he removed the memory card and placed it in his pocket. Then, while following officers to the police station in his own vehicle, he bent the chip in half and threw it out the window.

While questioned by police, the report says Hume claimed he had the camera set up for surveillance purposes to catch those who were damaging the art stored in the room, and he had accidentally video-taped a student changing her clothes.

Hume told officers that after he discovered what had happened, he got the idea he could see his students undressing and filmed his second victim on Oct. 19.

The report says Hume admitted asking the student to remove her bra for the silhouette picture.

When police asked him why he threw out the memory card, Hume allegedly said it was because there was video of his students changing their clothes on it.

Police recovered the card in the street near the double yellow line on Third Avenue north of Church Street. It appeared to be bent and damaged.

Thatcher officers served search warrants on Hume's residence and office, taking computer files and a hard drive from his school computer. Officers also located a second box with a hole cut into it. Investigators are still sorting through the computer evidence.

On Oct. 22, a third victim was interviewed by police.

The student reported the same experience with Hume as the previous two victims had but did not notice any camera.

She said Hume called her cell phone in a drunken state the evening of Oct. 19 and apologized for video-taping her and some other girls changing their clothes. Hume allegedly ended the conversation by saying "Love you baby...'bye."

The officer checked the student's cell phone, and the number on the memory matched the one Hume had called him from to notify of his temporary address change to Chandler.

On Oct. 29, a fourth victim reported the same experience while changing for pictures on Oct. 18.

She said Hume would go into the storage room first and then instruct her to go inside and change. He would then repeat the process when the student returned to change back. When she was finished changing, she heard beeping coming from the eraser box and discovered a silver camera inside as well.

Two other students reported having changed for pictures for Hume in the same storage room but did not have any knowledge about a camera until they heard rumors about it around school.

In a telephone interview, Hume told the Courier he didn't want to say anything about the allegations.

"I have no comment except that my life is over," he said. "You go ahead and have a good day, and I'll try to just have a day."