Elementary school volunteer arrested after taking inappropriate photo of Target customer, officers say

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN/Gray News) - An elementary school volunteer was arrested after he was seen on video placing his phone under a customer’s skirt at a Target in Greenville, North Carolina, according to police.

A bystander took a video of 21-year-old Thomas Elliott after she noticed him following her around the store.

In the video, Elliott is seen placing his phone on the floor under another woman’s skirt.

The woman who took the video posted it on social media, including police showing up at the store and arresting him.

A Pitt County School spokesman said Elliott was a volunteer at a Greenville elementary school.

“We are disturbed and deeply concerned by video footage of the individual that has been shared on social media and news outlets, and based on the footage, the individual will not be returning to our campuses as a volunteer or hired as an employee,” the school system’s spokesperson Tom McClellan said.

McClellan said before volunteers and visitors are given campus access, they are screened through Raptor, a program that determines if they are listed in any sex offender databases.

Opendoor Church in Winterville also provided a statement to WITN saying, “Thomas Elliott was immediately terminated upon notification of his arrest on Monday.” The church did not provide details on what exactly he did there.

Police said so far they haven’t found any inappropriate photos of children on the man’s cell phone.

A search warrant for the Elliott phone said he “denied any wrong doing and showed us (police) the recent pictures he had on his cellphone.” The warrant seeks among other things, video files, digital photographs, text messages, and “deleted information that may be recovered via a forensic examination.”

Elliott posted a $5,000 bond and had a first court appearance Tuesday in Greenville.

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