Former Evergreen High School teacher Matthew Morasch was found guilty Wednesday of trying to take “upskirt” images of females, including a student in his class, with his cellphone.
The Clark County Superior Court jury deliberated for about two hours before reaching the guilty verdicts on one count of voyeurism and two counts of attempted voyeurism. The 1½-week trial wrapped up Tuesday evening.
Morasch, 42, was a freshman physics teacher at the high school and was in his 10th year with the district when the crimes occurred. The district placed him on leave when the allegations came to light, but he has since resigned, according to a district spokesperson.
He remained out of custody for most of his case but was taken to the Clark County Jail following the verdict. His bail was set at $15,000; he planned to post the same day.
He will be sentenced Aug. 29, pending the report from a pretrial investigation.
Morasch attempted to take video up the dress of a then-14-year-old girl, who testified at trial that she was also the subject of a separate photo taken in the spring of 2015. He also took an “upskirt” video of an unidentified woman in the Battle Ground Goodwill store in April 2015.
His attorney, Alan Harvey, argued throughout the trial that Morasch often carried his cellphone in class and that students would use it to take selfies and photos with him. He also said it’s possible Morasch could have accidentally bumped the phone, activating its camera and that he was unaware of the images.
However, Deputy Prosecutor Luka Vitasovic argued that if that were the case, Morasch is “quite voyeuristically prone,” and there were “a lot of accidents going on.”
Vitasovic said several students saw what they believed to be Morasch filming the lower half of another student who was seated at a classroom table. The girl was reportedly wearing a dress. One of the students took a photo of Morasch while he recorded the girl from under the table.
Although police later did not find an image related to that incident, they did recover the other two images, Vitasovic said.
