Former Jacksonville Teacher must register as a sex offender
JACKSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA – A former New Bridge Middle School teacher who secretly recorded girls undressing in his classroom was officially ordered to join the sex offender registry for the next 30 years.
The ruling comes more than two years after police found a hidden camera inside the classroom of 2022 language arts teacher Stephen Bera, who was also directing a school musical at the time of the crimes.
Investigators say Bera had positioned a covert camera inside his classroom where at least eighteen girls, all students participating in the school musical, were changing costumes.
The discovery sparked community anger and confusion, especially after police never clarified why students were changing clothes in a grown man’s classroom to begin with.
In September, Bera pleaded guilty to eighteen felony counts of secret peeping. Despite the seriousness of the charges, District Attorney Ernie Lee explained that because Bera had no prior criminal record, North Carolina law prohibited an active prison sentence. Instead, a judge handed down a suspended sentence and two-and-a-half years of supervised probation, leaving families furious.
Inside the courtroom, Superior Court Judge Henry Stevens heard emotional testimony and reviewed an evaluation that ultimately led him to order that Bera register as a sex offender for the next three decades. Victims and families said this was the only outcome that felt even remotely like justice.“
