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Palmerton school board removes volunteer football coach

A volunteer football coach in Palmerton who allegedly tried to take a video of a teenage girl changing clothes in a bathroom has been ousted from his position.

By a unanimous measure, the school board agreed on Tuesday to remove Rob Eckhart as a volunteer football coach, effective immediately.He was a volunteer football coach for the past three seasons, and was active in helping students in all sports with weight training.Eckhart, 41, was arraigned last week on charges that he allegedly tried to take a video of a teenage girl changing clothes in a bathroom at the high school.He was released on $100,000 unsecured bail after the arraignment conducted by District Judge William Kissner of Palmerton.Two conditions of his release are that he not be permitted on any property of the Palmerton Area School District until the charges are resolved and that he not have any contact with the girl or her family.Eckhart has been charged with photograph/film/depict on computer sex act involving a child and contact by communication with a minor-sexual abuse, both felonies, and invasion of privacy, a misdemeanor.Kissner set a hearing date for March 19, but Eckhart's lawyer, attorney George Dydynsky, immediately requested and was granted a continuance.Eckhart was arrested by state police at Lehighton as a result of an incident that happened on Saturday, Feb. 8, in the weight lifting room of Palmerton Area High School.According to the affidavit, Eckhart admitted to State Trooper Eric Snyder that he had set up a cellphone in the bathroom of the weight lifting room, with the intent to obtain video of the victim "in various stages of undress."The weight lifting room is open in some off-school hours, including Saturday mornings, to athletes of various sports for weight training.Trooper Snyder wrote in the affidavit that the victim had been contacted numerous times, via text messages, by the defendant "requesting to know the exact time" she was going to arrive at the school that Saturday morning.She was also instructed, according to the affidavit, to use a specific bathroom to change into her workout attire.According to the affidavit, she had discovered a blue iPhone, with a black case, strategically placed, behind the toilet seat, in a unisex bathroom.The cellphone was in video mode.The female contacted school officials on Monday, Feb. 10, who in turn reported the incident to state police.

Eckhart