Lower Merion IT Staffer: “I'm Not a Voyeur”

Woman at center of the webcam spying case breaks her silence after pleading the 5th

The Lower Merion IT staffer at the center of the controversial webcam spying investigation broke her silence Tuesday. First to the FBI, then the media denying allegations she peered into student's lives for fun.

Carol Cafiero is one of two Lower Merion School District employees able to enable the remote tracking feature on the LANRev software. When activated, the software tracks a user's IP address and takes webcam photos and desktop screenshots from the computers.

But Cafiero says while she was the one who flipped the switch, there was never any spying.

"At no time did I ever independently, without authorization, turn on the webcam technology," Cafiero said. "At no time did I ever spy on students."

The information systems coordinator and her coworker Michael Perbix would get direction from higher administrators to enable the software to find only lost and stolen machines, Cafiero's attorney Charles Mandracchia said.

"They didn't sit around for hours looking for pictures," he said. "They didn't sit around for seconds looking at pictures."

Those recorded photos were able to be accessed by a number of staffers -- even those not authorized to have the feature turned on, Mandracchia said.

District officials said Monday that 56,000 images were recorded from 80 of 1,800 school-issued notebook computers over a two-year period.

The large majority of the images captured were ambient in nature, officials said. But there were as many as 68 photos that included students, Mandracchia said.

"I understand people should be very upset they took 56,000 images. That’s 56 and three zeros," Mandracchia said.

The man and his client pointed their finger at the Lower Merion School District's poor management of the feature as a source for so much ire.

"The policy was loose and the policy should've been handled differently. But with that said the policy was not to spy on students," Mandracchia said.

Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins, 16, alleges that the district watched him sleeping and partially dressed. His attorney, Mark Haltzman, provided one of the photos to NBC Philadelphia last week.

Haltzman blasted Cafiero after the FBI criminal investigation uncovered emails talking about the remote access feature.

In the email thread, one district employee remarked that the photos reminded them of "watching a soap opera" to which Cafiero replied "I love it."

Mandracchia says the woman's email response was simply speaking to her excitement over how the software worked to find lost computers. He also says the remote tracking feature is just a supplement to the software's main role in remotely installing computer updates.

The scrutiny against Cafiero was further intensified after she chose to invoke her 5th Amendment right during a court appearance last week when asked if some of the images in question were downloaded to her personal hard drive.

Mandracchia says no photos were ever downloaded to Cafiero's hard drive. He went on to explain she pled the fifth to ensure they had all of the correct information before a statement was made.

"She had a constitutional right, the same way people are saying 'I have a right to privacy,' to remain quiet," Mandracchia said.

Haltzman rebukes that notion calling her uncooperative.

"I'm not a voyeur," Cafiero said in response. "The allegations made by Mr. Haltzman against me are completely false, outrageous and for the sole purpose of inflaming me to the public."

She says she plans on reporting Haltzman to the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board.

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