WJ media technician James Mulhern III was indicted, and his case was moved to circuit court on May 15. Mulhern was arrested the morning of Thursday, April 16, after allegedly recording underage girls inside a WJ dressing room, according to the Special Victims Investigations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD). If convicted, Mulhern can face up to 25 years in prison.
Mulhern has been charged with four counts of sex abuse of a minor, and a judge ordered on April 17 that Mulhern be released on a $10,000 bond, citing a lack of prior criminal history. Conditions of his release include no internet access, no contact with minors and a 24/7 curfew, as well as being barred from coming close to Walter Johnson’s premises.
Two students reported finding a video camera in the control booth of WJ’s auditorium on Tuesday, April 7, which contained an SD card with over 200 encrypted files. Upon decrypting the files, they discovered that they amounted to a single eight-hour video taken inside of a changing room, which appeared to show an adult male placing the camera to record, followed by footage of teenage girls entering the dressing room to change for a theater performance.
“I come into school on Monday and my best friend comes into class, and I can sense that he’s a little off,” senior Alban Lorillou, a friend of the students who discovered the videos, said. “He shows me on this Google Drive folder 245 videos, saying ‘Hey, I found this yesterday.” He shows me the video of the guy setting it up and then says that around mid-way through the videos there are girls changing in it. He had already identified the person as Mr. Mulhern.”
The students then reported their concerns to a health teacher, who advised them to report the videos to Principal Nicole Morgan. They did so on April 15, resulting in Montgomery County Public Schools staff notifying officers that day.
According to the police, search warrants were executed by detectives: one at Walter Johnson High School and one at Mulhern’s home in Clarksburg, where detectives found items of evidentiary value.
Mulhern, who has been placed on unpaid leave by MCPS, initially denied any wrongdoing, but later told police he had an inappropriate “attraction to multiple students at Walter Johnson High School,” according to court records.
Principal Nicole Morgan sent out a message to all WJ staff, students and parents on the day of Mulhern’s arrest. “The purpose of this message is to inform you that a staff member at our school has been placed on leave without pay, effective immediately, pending the outcome of an investigation by the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD), with support from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). School administrators were made aware of an incident on Wednesday, April 15, and immediately reported it to MCPD,” Morgan’s letter stated.
The news of Mulhern’s arrest came as WJ STAGE was preparing for its final weekend of performances for its spring production, Hadestown. Mulhern was the technical director of WJ STAGE for almost 10 years, leaving that role in July of 2020. Before their last two shows on April 17 and 18, MCPD was seen conducting more searches around the school, looking for more possible cameras.
“We found out about [the arrest] and then we had our brush-up on Thursday,” senior Julian Isaac said. “It was especially hard because a lot of people were like, ‘Why are we having this? Everyone wants to go home, no one wants to be in a space that was holding so much negativity,’ but we did it anyway. It was hard to decide between our emotions and the integrity of the show.”
Mulhern also serves on the executive board of SEIU Local 500, where he represents Media and Technology staff interests in union matters related to MCPS. As of April 16, his profile on the SEIU 500 website had been archived. Mulhern was the advisor for WJ’s morning announcements as well, which switched from live stream to loudspeaker ever since Thursday morning, before news of his arrest was released. Since no replacement has been hired, Mulhern’s other duties have been divided among existing staff members.
SEIU 500 released a statement on Mulhern.
“In response [to the arrest], the executive board held an emergency meeting and has taken action to release the accused individual from his responsibilities pending the outcome of the investigation,” they wrote.
WJ community reacts
Following news of Mulhern’s arrest, countless rumours rapidly dispersed throughout WJ. The ideas of Non-Disclosure Agreements being tossed around and cameras placed in bathroom stalls turned an already frightening situation into a terrifying ordeal.
“I was shocked to think that such an awful thing could happen in my community and especially at my school,” junior Lyna Denis said.
The news has prompted responses from both Mulhern’s current students and WJ alumni. Many past students recall reporting Mulhern’s unsettling behavior to the administration with no significant results, and several current students remember hearing rumours about this. As more and more students who worked closely with Mulhern come forward with their experiences, this case has become increasingly impossible to ignore.
“He [Mulhern] was very close with a lot of us in stage crew,” an anonymous student, who worked as a WJ Stage crew member alongside Mulhern, said. “He offered his phone number in case anybody needed help with anything, which we realized later was pretty weird.”
Many have speculated that Mulhern’s behavior showcased signs of grooming. Grooming can be incredibly traumatic, leaving victims feeling confused and isolated. Many of the early stages include building a general sense of trust with the victims, making them feel special or unique. It often goes unrecognized because the grooming behaviors exhibited try to emulate typical mentoring, which can appear to a bystander initially as supportive behavior, where the groomer is invested in the well-being of the victim.
“Most of the rumours circulated were about him being flirty with students, and keeping contact with some girls after they graduated,” junior Sam Lopez, who worked closely with Mulhern in setbuilding and carpentry, said.
The sense of community that Mulhern built with the stage crew made it all the more difficult for students to come to terms with what he had allegedly done. It elicited a sense of violation to the highest degree, leaving a feeling of betrayal in its wake.
“We try to create this sense of family, and we all become really close,” WJ STAGE director McAdory said. “To have someone betray us that horribly, of course, my first concern was for the students, because when the news hit, it hit everyone’s phone at the same time.”
When discussing the dynamic that she had with Mulhern, McAdory mentioned the tense environment, beginning years ago.
“Especially at that time, James was professionally non-collaborative and was not committed to fostering a cohesive theater community, which made it difficult for students to build positive relationships with all of the adults in WJ STAGE,” McAdory said. “Several years ago, we had kind of a push and pull relationship,” McAdory said. “He had a hard time understanding that I’m in charge of the program. And it sort of isolated me from the crew for a while, which I think could have made students feel like they couldn’t talk to me.”
McAdory shared that her experiences with Mulhern have changed over the years.
“However, within the past few years, our dynamic became much more collegial, which made the arrest and subsequent sense of betrayal that much more difficult,” McAdory said.
Building Services Manager Shelton Neal had been close friends with Mulhern prior to the arrest and expressed his shocked reaction.
“Outside of what happened, he was a great person,” Neal said. “I pull it [the article] up maybe once a week, just to analyze what I was missing.”
Ultimately, Mulhern’s arrest is not simply a headline or a news story but rather something that happened within the WJ community that left many students feeling isolated, confused and betrayed. It has been extremely difficult for students and staff alike to come to terms with the situation.
“We really liked him; he was really good at his job,” Lopez said. “You know, we trusted him.”
Victims with information relevant to this investigation may contact the Montgomery County Department of Police Special Victims Investigations Division, 240-773-5400 or their website.
