Police: Man entered Gateway elementary school, recorded child in girls' bathroom

A man lied his way into Ramsey Elementary School in Monroeville on Tuesday and recorded a child on his cellphone as she used the girls’ restroom, according to charges filed by Monroeville police.

Brian Mintmier, 26, is charged with possessing an instrument of crime, possessing an instrument of crime on school property and invasion of privacy.

According to the criminal complaint written by officer Ronald Waros, police responded to the school on Ramsey Road about 3:30 p.m. where staff members had detained a man — later identified as Mintmier — after he was found in the girls’ bathroom.

Principal Joseph Rosi told Waros that a 10-year-old girl reported she was in a bathroom stall when she looked down and saw someone holding a cellphone under the stall and recording her, according to the complaint.

The girl, who was “visibly upset and frightened,” alerted staff members, who went to the restroom and called for the person inside to come out, Waros wrote in the complaint. After several minutes of silence, police said, Mintmier emerged from the girls’ bathroom.

Staff members took him to the school office until police arrived.

Waros said he determined that Mintmier had no reason to be in the school building: “He was not staff or working at the school and did not have a child attending the school,” he said. He found a box cutter in Mintmier’s pocket and seized his cellphone, according to the complaint.

District Superintendent William Short addressed the incident in a letter sent to parents Wednesday afternoon, though he did not mention Mintmier by name.

Short said Mintmier approached the school’s main entrance about 2:19 p.m. where he was approached by an employee. He said Mintmier asked the employee, who is responsible for screening visitors prior to admittance, to use the restroom. The employee permitted the man to enter the school and access the restroom hallway unaccompanied, Short said.

“This egregious error in judgment is against school district policy and procedures,” Short wrote in the letter.

Short said Mintmier entered the girls’ restroom and stayed in a stall for about 40 minutes until the 10-year-old girl who noticed Mintmier alerted staff members.

Short said the employee who allowed Mintmier into the building has been placed on leave pending an investigation, and counselors were in the school building Wednesday to support the children. He said the district has provided additional security and reiterated to staff the school’s visitor policy.

An earlier letter from Rosi to parents said only that a man entered the main entrance “under false pretenses.”

“Acting on our existing security protocol, staff and students pointed out the unauthorized entrant and we worked quickly to remove him from the area he was prohibited from entering,” Rosi wrote.

Short said the employee who granted access has been placed on leave pending an investigation.

Court records showed that Mintmier was denied bail at his preliminary arraignment Wednesday morning, with Magisterial District Judge Eugene Ricciardi indicating that Mintmier “poses a danger to the community.”

No defense attorney was listed for Mintmier as of Wednesday afternoon. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 28 before Monroeville Magisterial District Judge Jeffrey L. Herbst.

Monroeville police Chief Doug Cole said the incident is still under investigation, and more charges may be filed.

He declined to discuss how Mintmier gained entry into the school or possible failures in security protocols. Cole said district officials are cooperating with the investigation and would handle any staff discipline.

Parent Jon Steinkopf said he was shocked to learn what took place at the school. The retired Air Force staff sergeant has a child in first and third grade at Ramsey.

“I just read the email and I am shaking,” Steinkopf said Wednesday afternoon after receiving the superintendent’s message. “This isn’t a celebration of getting this guy before anything bad happened. We’re lucky this guy didn’t have a gun. I don’t know if my 8-year-old daughter is on that man’s footage.”

Steinkopf said he is disappointed and frustrated with how the district failed to follow its own procedures, as well as not notifying parents of what happened sooner.

“I have a number of issues with how this went down,” he said. “How is this allowed to happen? There was a sex crime committed inside of an elementary school.”

The parent said staffers “failed at their first responsibility, which is to protect our kids.”

Messages to the district Wednesday afternoon were not returned.

Staff writer Michael DiVittorio contributed to this report.