A former choir teacher and assistant basketball coach in the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) School District in southern Minnesota was charged Monday in Faribault County with eight felony counts after he allegedly used a pen-camera to take pictures of naked teens in the shower.

Zachary P. Roberts, 28, resigned from the district in early January after an internal investigation was started in mid-December 2015. He is charged with four counts of interfering with the privacy of a minor and four counts of stalking a minor with sexual or aggressive intent, according to the criminal complaint. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance July 18.

The complaint said one of Roberts' players found a pen in Roberts' gym bag in the locker room after a Dec. 14 game, then realized the pen was actually a camera. After the players tried unsuccessfully to view the files on the camera, they turned it over to school officials and then to the Janesville police.

During a police interview Dec. 24, Roberts told police he had bought the camera to film boys in the locker room and had done that 40 or 50 times in the past, the complaint said.

Roberts was a 2006 graduate of JWP schools. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris, then returned to his hometown to be choir teacher and basketball coach. He also was a student council adviser and helped direct musicals and the show choir. His last day of work was Jan. 4. He also resigned as youth coordinator for St. Ann Catholic Church in Janesville.

Pat Pheifer