The day after a local physical education and math teacher was arrested for allegedly using a hidden video camera to tape female middle school students changing clothes, police and school officials are trying to retrace his employment history.
San Bruno resident Neal Sato was arrested Tuesday for allegedly videotaping Central Middle School female students changing clothing using a video camera hidden in a school office. Police suspect he used his position as a school instructor to direct certain students to change clothing in that office. He is being charged with six counts of lewd acts with a child, but those charges could increase if police identify additional victims. Currently, police can only positively identify six girls in the videos.
Sato was employed simultaneously at Central in San Carlos and Abbott Middle School in San Mateo. He also has to ties to the Sequoia High School volleyball team in Redwood City and a Quake City Volleyball, a nonprofit league consisting of high school students from the Burlingame area. At age 34, police believe he likely worked elsewhere before getting jobs at Central and Abbott within the last two years. Police are sitting down with school officials to determine Sato’s employment history.
Meanwhile, Central students returned to school yesterday from winter break. Patricia Wool, superintendent of the San Carlos School District, sent students home with a statement to parents, many of whom did not know about the arrest until news reports yesterday. Abbott school officials also sent a letter home with students yesterday.
“When this matter arose in November, the San Carlos School District terminated Neal’s employment with the district. We have cooperated with the San Carlos police and will continue to do so with both the police and the District Attorney’s Office,” Wool said in a statement to San Carlos parents yesterday.
Abbott officials assured parents Sato’s references were contacted and a complete background check, including fingerprinting, was conducted before Sato was hired for this school year.
The San Carlos School District is providing counseling for students and publicizing the police hotline set up by the San Carlos Police Department for information about students who may have been victimized.
It appears Sato was only targeting girls at Central, but police said there are still more than 100 digital images to examine on a computer confiscated from his house in November. Police also seized a second computer from Sato Tuesday. FBI investigators will not know how many, if any, images are on the second computer until the FBI completes another analysis later this month, said San Carlos police Cmdr. Sandra Spagnoli.
Police began investigating Sato Nov. 23, when an eighth grade female student suspected he was secretly videotaping her. She reported it to a school official who contacted police. Investigators began questioning other girls and gained enough information to serve Sato with a search warrant at his home the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Sato was released from his position at Central Middle School shortly after the investigation began. Police know Sato was employed at the school since at least October 2004 because confiscated video date back to that time, said Spagnoli.
Wool did return a call for comment yesterday to confirm employment dates.
On Nov. 29, San Carlos police notified the San Mateo-Foster City School District that “they were investigating a complaint against Mr. Sato,” said Joan Rosas, assistant superintendent of the San Mateo-Foster City School District.
San Carlos police didn’t clarify what the complaint was, Rosas said.
Sato was hired at the beginning of the school year and remains an employee with the school district despite his arrest on school campus Tuesday morning. He is on an official leave on absence pending a conclusion to his case.
The special police hotline at 802-4357.
Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.
October 2004 - earliest dated videos found of Central Middle School students.
September 2005- hired with San Mateo-Foster City School District since.
Nov. 23 - Student complains to school, police begin to investigate.
Nov. 28 - Police search Sato’s San Bruno home.
Nov. 29 - San Carlos Police notify San Mateo-Foster City School district of investigation. They don’t specify what kind of investigation. Sato is dismissed from the San Carlos School District.
Jan. 3 - Sato is arrested at Abbott Middle School in San Mateo. |