Indiana- Parents expressed shock Thursday after learning a Westfield swim coach admitted to police that he hid video cameras in girls’ locker rooms at Kokomo and Westfield high schools.

Brian M. Hindson, 40, the former swimming coach at Kokomo High School and the owner of Central Indiana Aquatics, was charged Thursday with possession of child pornography.

“We’re all dumbfounded,” said Rosemarie Allemeier, Westfield, who has two children who used to swim on the aquatics team.

“I think it’s a shock to everybody,” Allemeier said. “My concern is, how long was it going on? What’s out there (on video for others to see)?”

Answers to those questions were not immediately available, said Timothy Morrison, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
After police searched his home Tuesday night, seizing numerous computers, digital cameras, video cameras and videotapes, Hindson admitted he hid video cameras in the high schools’ locker rooms, Morrison said.

But it is too early to determine whether Hindson actually filmed students at either high school.

“The items we seized Tuesday night, we’re talking about items in sufficient volume,” Morrison said. “We’re not going to get through everything in 24 hours. I wish people could be given a definite idea of what we have, but until we get through everything, we have no clue.”

After appearing for an initial hearing Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Hindson was in the Marion County Jail on Thursday night on a U.S. marshal’s hold. A pretrial hearing is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The child pornography possession charges stem from videos found on a computer Hindson sold on eBay in March 2006. According to an FBI affidavit, the buyer found two videos of young naked females on the computer and contacted police.

The FBI conducted a forensics examination and forwarded the information to agents in Indianapolis because Hindson lived in the area. Morrison said his office received the information Tuesday. It wasn’t clear why the investigation took nearly two years.

“(Two) video files depicted what appeared to be a high school female in a locker room changing out of a bathing suit and into her clothing,” the affidavit said.

“The female was naked in at least portions of the videos. The video files appeared to be made using a camera that may have been hidden inside a locker.”

A Kokomo police detective later determined the videos appeared to have been produced from the girls swimming locker room at Kokomo High School.
Eight other videos found at Hindson’s home do not include local students, Morrison said.

“They are actually of much younger children than high schoolers,” he said. “None of those that he’s charged for have anything to do with the high school. These have already been recognized by investigators as being the kinds of things found on the Internet.

“He didn’t produce these, he possessed them,” he said. “They are not of anyone we know.”

Wednesday, Hindson was terminated as coach at Kokomo High School, where he worked for three years coaching the boys and girls varsity swim teams, said Kokomo-Center Schools Superintendent Thomas J. Little Jr. No complaints had been filed against Hindson, and his background check was clean, Little said.

“I was angry, betrayed, disconcerted, and I was deeply hurt and hurt for our children that were placed in this situation,” he said.

Police searched the Kokomo and Westfield high school locker rooms this week but found no video cameras or tapes, school officials said.

“We issued a notice of no trespassing on school grounds,” Little said of Hindson’s termination. “He’s to have no contact with students, staff or parents in the district.”

Kokomo administrators met with about 40 swim team members and parents and informed them of the charges Wednesday night.

“They were deeply hurt, dismayed and betrayed. They were violated,” Little said.

Hindson rented the pool at Westfield High School for his Central Indiana Aquatics teams, said Principal Stacy McGuire. Team practices at the school have been suspended, she said.

Administrators also met with students Thursday afternoon and offered support through counselors. Another meeting was held Thursday night at the school, where Central Indiana Aquatics coaches met with 80 parents.
Westfield parent Allemeier said Hindson was single and didn’t have children, and she never had any reason to mistrust him.

“I thought he was a great coach,” she said. “There were no red flags, none.”

Her 10-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son swam on the team when they were younger.

Allemeier’s 14-year-old daughter, who never joined the aquatics program, swims on the freshman junior varsity team at Westfield High School.

“I think they’re in shock and disbelief more than anything,” Allemeier said of the high schoolers. “They feel very violated.”