JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - A former teacher who recorded students changing clothes in his classroom will learn next month if he’ll have to register as a sex offender.

Stephen Bera was a language arts teacher at New Bridge Middle School in Jacksonville when police found a hidden camera in his classroom in May of 2022.

Bera was charged with multiple counts of felony secret peeping, but police never explained why the students were undressing in the man’s classroom.

Last month, Bera pleaded guilty to 18 counts of felony secret peeping. District Attorney Ernie Lee says that, with no prior record, by law, he could not receive an active sentence. A judge sentenced him to a suspended sentence with 2-1/2 years of supervised probation.

Bera will have to undergo a sex offender evaluation, and Le

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