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Former Rockford coach faces federal charges for recording girls changing

Posted at 4:34 PM, Jul 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-28 17:10:39-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A former Rockford rowing coach is facing federal child porn charges after officials say he secretly recorded hundreds of videos of girls changing in locker rooms.

Timothy Vallier, 30, is charged with possession and attempted production of child porn, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to court documents, investigators said Vallier organized videos he recorded into files labeled with at least 15 different girls’ first names.  There was also an additional folder titled “to be sorted.”

Time stamps on the videos indicated they were recorded from 2012 to 2016 from at least two different changing areas: one used by the Rockford rowing team in Plainfield Township and one inside the Freshman building at Rockford Public Schools.

Vallier was previously charged in Kent County District Court in connection with the incidents, but those state charges will be dismissed now that he is being prosecuted federally, according to a release.

Vallier was arrested earlier this month after a student discovered a camera that had recorded video inside a changing room in the Rockford Crew House in Plainfield Township.

Rockford Superintendent Michael Shibler told FOX 17 earlier this month that a female student discovered the camera in an SUV used by the crew team.   She took the camera to her mother who immediately called police and the school district, Shibler said.

Vallier admitted to police he placed a video camcorder in a position in a changing room at the Rockford Crew House to record female athletes changing, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by FOX 17 earlier this month.

“Vallier stated that he has done this multiple times over the last few years and still possesses other videos of other female athletes changing their clothes,” Kent County Sheriff’s Detective Michael Tanis wrote in the probable cause affidavit. “The girls were unaware they were being filmed.”

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, investigators found additional child porn on his computer.

Vallier, the head men’s rowing coach, was fired shortly after the investigation began.  He’s currently being detained pending a hearing next week, officials said in a release.