S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – The legal case of a Parkland School District administrator accused of secretly recording a student without his consent has a new development.
Francis Anonia, 45, former director of visual and performing arts at Parkland High School, was charged in October 2024 with five counts each of Intercept Communications and Criminal Use of a Communication Facility, all felonies; as well as nine misdemeanor counts of Invasion of Privacy, the DA’s office said.
Officials say Anonia filed a motion to suppress evidence seized through the search of his cellphone.
On Friday, Nov. 21, Judge Robert L. Steinberg ruled that Anonia’s motion to suppress and exclude physical evidence (from his cellphone) was denied, according to a news release from the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County.
He allegedly recorded video of a student while he changed his clothes in a school dressing room in April 2021.
In Feb. 2023, Anonia’s cellphone, identified as an iPhone in a case, was seized by Allentown Police in regard to an investigation surrounding his live-in fiancé and former student, Willliam Marshall, according to the news release.
Following a subsequent news release from Parkland School District, a number of former students and teachers came forward to report inappropriate behavior by Anonia.