‘It had to end’: Former teacher gets 5 years for secretly filming boys

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A former Massachusetts middle school teacher has been sentenced to five years in jail for secretly recording a 14-year-old student using the bathroom.

Scott McDonald, 39, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of enticing a child under the age of 16 and 14 counts of photographing an unsuspecting nude person.

Victims who spoke with Worcester Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker asked for the maximum sentence to be issued, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported.

“(McDonald’s) crime has shaken us to our core. They have broken our hearts, hurt our family and destroyed our ability to touch,” a mother of a victim said.

Prosecutors say McDonald had been recording young males between the ages of 12 and adulthood in his home and at school since at least 2012.

McDonald made a statement before his sentencing that he’s glad someone turned him in because “it had to end.”