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Former middle school teacher to be placed on sex offender registry after recording students changing

PRE News & Ideas | By Annette Weston
Published November 21, 2025 at 9:06 AM EST
Onslow County Sheriff's Office

A former teacher who recorded students changing clothes in his classroom will have to register as a sex offender.

Stephen Bera was a language arts teacher at New Bridge Middle School in Jacksonville in May of 2022, when police found a hidden camera in his classroom that captured images of students changing for a musical performance.

Bera pled guilty in September to 18 counts of felony secret peeping.

He was given a suspended sentence with 2-1/2 years of supervised probation, and ordered to register as a sex offender for the next 30 years.
Annette Weston
Annette is an award-winning journalist based in Eastern North Carolina. Her career includes professional stops across the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and Southeast, recently culminating in a 2026 Region 8 Edward R. Murrow Award for Small Market Radio Best News Series for her work on the Camp Lejeune Justice Act Series. Guided by a passion for human-interest storytelling, she focuses on narratives that touch hearts and connect communities. A mother of four and grandmother of two, Annette enjoys reading and creating epic Halloween costumes in her spare time. If you have a story idea to share, please reach out by email to westona@cravencc.edu.
See stories by Annette Weston