The former choir director at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park has been sentenced to more than five and a half years in prison for secretly videotaping female students changing clothes in his school office.
Joseph Heidesch, 47, will serve 68 months, or five years and eight months, in a Kansas prison.
He will get credit for 260 days already served. Once released from prison, Heidesch will be required to register as a sex offender.
The sentence comes as part of a December plea deal in which Heidesch pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and 25 other counts of breach of privacy.
Heidesch, a Shawnee resident, was arrested in October 2021 and eventually charged with 30 felony counts for using a hidden camera to record female students undressing in his school office.
Court records say the alleged recordings occurred between January 1, 2019, and September 16, 2021.
St. Thomas Aquinas High School confirmed to Fox 4 in June of last year that the school no longer employed Heidesch.
As previously reported by the Post, Heidesch and the private school are named in at least five ongoing civil lawsuits filed by former students or their parents.
Those suits are seeking monetary damages from the school, alleging that Aquinas officials failed to adequately protect students from Heidesch’s predatory behavior and prevent the violation of school policies.
The suits also allege that Heidesch often forced female students to change outfits in his office during dress rehearsals while a hidden video camera recorded them in various states of undress.
Mike Frizzell is a freelance crime and fire reporter who runs Operation 100 News.
Thanks for reading! If you value having an independent news outlet keeping tabs on local government, schools and taxes, we're asking you to contribute to our Education Reporting Fund.
