Ex-Bernardsville Asst. Principal Indicted on 91 Counts

A former Bernardsville Middle School assistant principal has been indicted on 91 counts in connection with allegedly videotaping nude boys in the shower at Immaculata High School, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Patrick Lott, 55, of Somerville, has been indicted on 29 counts of third-degree invasion of privacy, 30 counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, 17 counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child and 15 counts of fourth-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The Somerset Hills Schools Superintendent, Peter Miller, informed district parents shortly after Lott's arrest that the facilities at the middle school and Bernards High School were searched by Somerset County Prosecutor's detectives and no recording devices were found at the schools in Bernardsville.

Late on Thursday afternoon, Miller said in an email that nothing has changed since that earlier search of Somerset Hills school buildings. "We have not been informed of any connection to students in our district," the superintendent stated as he had in the past.

In December 2011, detectives assigned to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit executed a search warrant of Lott's Somerville residence, the prosecutor's office said.

Detectives seized multiple computer and digital recordings that contained several videos of nude teen-aged boys showering in the Immaculata High School boys communal shower area, the prosecutor's office said.

According to the prosecutor's office, 29 students and former students were identified in the videos, 15 of whom were determined to be under the age of 16 at the time the videos were made.

Detectives found the area and the camera where it had been installed to video the shower, the prosecutor's office said.

Lott had been affiliated with Immaculata for several years and was a volunteer sports coach at the Somerville school, the prosecutor's office said.

Lott is currently incarcerated in the Somerset County Jail on $500,000 cash/bond. As a condition of his bail, Lott cannot have any contact with a child under the age of 16, the prosecutor's office said. He also cannot have contact with any of the alleged victims or any member of the Immaculata High School staff or faculty, the prosecutor's office said.

Following Lott's arrest, counseling was offered to any Somerset Hills students who said they wanted to discuss the situation, school officials said last January.

Lott had been arrested around Christmas last December showering students at Immaculata High School.

Linda Sadlouskos contributed to this story.