A Pleasant Valley official has been charged with illegally placing a surveillance camera inside a staff break room.

The Monroe County District Attorney’s office this week charged Joshua Krebs, supervisor of support staff, with four counts of intercept communications, and other related offenses for the incident that took place in April 2016. The charges, which are felonies, are filed in District Justice Colleen Mancuso’s office.

Alex Sterenchock, technology coordinator, was also allegedly involved in installing a Wi-Fi camera in the break room at Pleasant Valley Elementary School without notifying staff. He has not been charged.

Staff say that was a violation of privacy because administrators told them that they could use the faculty room for personal telephone calls and related matters.

The case was investigated this summer by a grand jury. The recommendation for indictment came back earlier this month.

At that time, Pleasant Valley Superintendent David Piperato said that the attorney for the school board is reviewing the presentment, and declined further comment.

Piperato was hired by the school board in March to replace then Superintendent Carole Geary, who retired July 31.

According to the presentment, on April 6, 2016, faculty members noticed the camera, placed atop a vending machine, and reported it to their building representative.

The representative, John Gesiskie, met with the school principal and Krebs, who allegedly admitted that he had placed the camera atop the vending machine the night before, in order to film a custodian he believed was taking extended breaks while on duty.

As supervisor of support services, Krebs oversees the district’s custodial staff.

Krebs said the camera filmed throughout that school day, even though the custodian worked a night shift. He also told Gesiskie that the camera was set up to download onto his computer and stream on his smartphone.

The administration had previously determined that employees were permitted to have private conversations in the break room, according to court documents.

The district’s head custodian, Crystal Reph, said she was told by Krebs that the camera had been installed to film the employee in question.

Krebs also told her that he had heard another custodian say on the recording that she couldn’t keep up with the workload, and was considering leaving her position.

Two days after the camera was discovered, 35 faculty members were called to a meeting where Krebs said he installed the camera along with Sterenchock.

He said that most of the recording was deleted, however he would not guarantee that there would not be further surveillance in the future.