WELLSBURG, W.Va. Former Brooke High School principal Eric Michael James now faces additional felony charges in a criminal investigation that began after recording devices were found in girls locker rooms and a dance team changing area at the Wellsburg campus. James, 53, has not been convicted. The allegations against him remain unproven in court.
According to magistrate records and statements from Brooke County Prosecuting Attorney Allison Cowden, James now faces three felony counts of intentionally intercepting or attempting to intercept wire, oral, or electronic communication, along with one felony count of breaking and entering a nonresidence. He is being held at the West Virginia Northern Regional Jail on a combined $200,000 cash bond. The new counts were filed Monday, September 14, when Sgt.
Siranovic of the Brooke County Sheriff’s Office submitted two additional criminal complaints alleging violations of the state’s wiretap law. Cowden said the added charges followed a review of footage recovered from the hidden cameras and the identification of two additional people recorded on the devices. A magistrate set another $100,000 cash bond on the new complaints, doubling the amount first imposed after James’s arrest.
The investigation started on Wednesday, September 2, after a school custodian found an object that looked like an ink pen in a girls locker or changing area. The custodian later examined the item at home, realized it was a recording device, and took it to the Brooke County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Richard Beatty said that discovery prompted an immediate investigation, a search warrant, and a sweep of Brooke High School.
Investigators later searched the nearby middle school on the same campus and scanned other Brooke County school facilities as a precaution. Authorities said four recording devices were recovered from three areas used by female students: the girls physical education locker room, the girls varsity locker room, and a locker room or dressing area used by the school’s dance team.
Officials have described the devices as concealed cameras disguised as ordinary objects, including a pen-shaped camera, a key fob style camera, and a USB charger style device. Beatty said investigators found footage on the first device that showed James placing the camera and adjusting its angle.
A criminal complaint summarized by local news outlets states that a deputy who reviewed an SD card from one device saw a student changing clothes, stopped the video, and later viewed another clip that showed James handling the pen-shaped camera in the same room before another student entered. The complaint further states that James admitted to investigators that he had placed four devices, including a key fob camera in the same room as the pen device.
That account comes from charging documents and law enforcement statements. It is an allegation in a pending case, not a finding of guilt. Search warrants were executed at Brooke High School and at James’s home in Marshall County. Officials said electronics were seized at both locations and that recovered devices were sent to a state forensic laboratory in Morgantown.
Cowden said Brooke County Schools has cooperated with the investigation, along with the West Virginia State Police and the FBI. Investigators have said they are still determining how long the devices operated, how many students may have been recorded, whether audio was captured, and whether any files were copied, stored, or shared. Officials have said potential victims are expected to be notified after that forensic work is completed. No official public tally of victims has been released.
James was hired as Brooke High’s principal in June 2023 after earlier education jobs in Ohio and West Virginia. He was removed from the school and suspended after the investigation became known. He was arrested September 3 on the first two felony charges: one count of intercepting or attempting to intercept communications and one count described by prosecutors as entering without breaking, or entering an area of the school with intent to commit a crime. Both Brooke County magistrates later recused themselves from the case.
Visiting Magistrate Matthew Harvey, appointed by Chief Judge Joseph Barki, handled Monday’s appearance. James appeared in Brooke County Magistrate Court on September 14 with defense attorney DeMarr W. Moulton. The hearing had been set as a preliminary proceeding, but the defense waived time and asked for a continuance after the new charges were filed.
The state objected and wanted to proceed on the original charge. Harvey granted the continuance. The next court date is scheduled for 11 a.m. on September 21. A bond reduction request had been on the docket, but the new complaints changed the posture of the case.
James remains in custody unless the cash bond is posted. That same evening, the Brooke County Board of Education voted 4-0 to terminate James’s employment contract. Superintendent Jeffrey Crook told board members that James submitted a resignation after the meeting agenda was released. Acting board leadership declined to accept the resignation and moved forward with termination.
Trey Zambito has been named interim principal while the district searches for a permanent replacement. Separate civil lawsuits have been filed in Brooke Circuit Court by students and families against James and the Brooke County Board of Education. Those complaints allege privacy violations and failures in hiring, supervision, and campus security. They are not criminal findings.
Prosecutors have said the criminal investigation is continuing and that more charges remain possible as evidence is reviewed. What comes next is procedural. The September 21 hearing will address whether probable cause exists to send the felony counts forward. Forensic analysis of the devices and seized electronics is still underway.
Until a court rules otherwise, James is presumed innocent of the charges.
