Women’s Locker Room Hidden Camera Court Cases Scheduled For Fall

Trial dates are set involving dozens of women who fear they were viewed or recorded on a hidden West Virginia State Police locker room camera. 

Wheeling Attorney Teresa Toriseva said her legal team represents almost 80 former and current female law enforcement officers and whistleblowers. 

“There are other lawyers that also have cases, so that isn’t the totality of the universe,” Toriseva said. “Unfortunately, civil litigation can take several years. What I can promise you is that transparency is coming. There is so much information that I think the public is even overwhelmed by the details.”

In March 2023, West Virginia State Police admitted a video camera was placed in the state police academy women’s locker room. When and how that camera was used are the issues still in question. The civil court cases are on the docket for September, October and November in Kanawha County. Toriseva said civil litigation is the best vehicle of justice.

“It often is the only remedy and the only solution when there’s been misconduct or wrongdoing for lots of reasons,” Toriseva said. “Some of them are nefarious, some of them the way the government works, but in this case, it’s civil litigation.”

Toriseva said evidence will show the extent of actions that she said has terrorized so many women.  

“Nude videos, sexual videos, on phones and computers that have been, in fact, recovered and are in the possession of authorities,” she said. We know all that and we still don’t know who, It’s absolutely terrorizing and our clients feel like the only remedy they had was civil litigation.” 

In a recent interview with WVPB, State Police Superintendent Col. Jack Chambers said, amid still ongoing investigations, federal investigators say the West Virginia State Police and current members are not targets in the hidden camera probe. Chambers said since he became superintendent, just after the hidden camera issue went public, extensive and ongoing training and culture changes involve all State Police entities and individuals.

“We’ve changed everything from training hours at the Academy to accountability of hours,” Chambers told WVPB. “We put in a $450,000 security camera system in the state police academy. Just for checks and balances. To change your culture overnight, you want to try to change things as positively as you can in a progressive, positive way.  I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”

 Teresa Toriseva is currently a candidate for the state Attorney General.