Ex-Kennedale coach gets a year for videotaping teachers, students undressing

An ex-Kennedale assistant football coach was sentenced on Wednesday to a year in prison for videotaping teachers and students undressing in a faculty restroom last year.

Jason Tomlinson, 30, of Mansfield, also was given four years’ probation for possession of child pornography and must register as a sex offender for life. That charge stems from two students being in the video.

Bailiffs led Tomlinson from the Tarrant County Jail to the courtroom Wednesday morning while his family sat nearby. He was taken into custody last week after being free on bail following his arrest in 2014.

There were no victim statements Wednesday morning.

In all, six adults and two students were on the video that Kennedale police seized in March 2014 after a male teacher found the hidden camera in a faculty restroom.

“It was a fair sentence based on the evidence,” Lex Johnston of Hurst, Tomlinson’s attorney, said after the sentencing. “Victims in this case are ready to get on with their lives.”

The sentences will be served concurrently, meaning that when Tomlinson is released he will have to serve three years’ probation.

“He must attend counseling for sex offenders,” said prosecutor Martin Purselley. “And he must register as a sex offender for life.”

Tomlinson had pleaded guilty to improper photography or visual recording and possession of child pornography last week in a plea agreement.

He was sentenced Wednesday morning in Criminal District Court No. 2 before state District Judge Wayne Salvant.

Tomlinson was arrested in March 2014. Kennedale police watched a video from a camera found in a faculty restroom in which Tomlinson inadvertently captured images of his face as he placed the camera under a sink.

A male teacher found the 3-by-1-inch camera in when it fell from the underside of a sink as he washed his hands, according to arrest and search warrant affidavits.

The camera had been placed there with Velcro tape. Police found tape under another sink in a second faculty restroom.

The videos showed male and female teachers and students using the restroom, exposing their buttocks and genitals. Officers found several folders on the camera labeled with teachers’ names, according to the affidavits. Folders also identified the students, starting with “Wildcats,” the high school’s mascot.

“Each video had been categorized by teacher name and contained rating comments such as ‘fine’ or ‘good,’” according to the affidavits.

Tomlinson was placed on administrative leave at the time and is no longer with the district, school officials said.

Tomlinson was a standout athlete at Kennedale High School, where he graduated in 2003. According to his biography on the Navy football website, navysports.com, he also attended the U.S. Naval Academy.

His LinkedIn page shows he went to work at Kennedale High School in January 2013.

“It will be a difficult three-year probation,” Johnston said. “Because of the treatment program he must go through.”

Domingo Ramirez Jr.: 817-390-7763, @mingoramirezjr

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Ex-Kennedale coach gets a year for videotaping teachers, students undressing."