NORWICH – Former teaching assistant and swim coach Jonathan Aikins was sentenced to one to three years in state prison Thursday for his unlawful surveillance of an unknown number of female students in a Norwich High School locker room over the course of six months in 2011.

In June, school administrators notified the Norwich Police Department of an audio/video recording device – a cell phone – found by students in a girls locker room. Following a police investigation, Aikins was taken into custody at his residence the afternoon of June 2. A search warrant, requested by the Chenango County District Attorney’s Office, allowed police to continue their investigation at the residence and Aikins was subsequently charged.

In October, Aikins pleaded guilty to one count of second degree unlawful surveillance – a class E felony – in an agreed upon disposition with the DA’s office. Originally charged with four counts of felony unlawful surveillance, Aikins could have faced up to 16 years in state prison if found guilty by a jury of his peers.

First Assistant District Attorney Stephen Dunshee, who handled the Aikins case, said the former swim coach had violated the trust of his athletes, students, co-workers and the community as a whole. Those recorded via the cell phone, a number that has never been released, will “never trust again,” he added.

Said Dunshee, “The people are asking this court to send a message to any evil people out there ... this will not be tolerated.”

Perry Browne educator Joe Downey, whose wife, Amanda was a long-time friend and colleague of Aikins, spoke on behalf of the victims. According to Downey, if you had asked his wife, a girl’s swim coach at NHS, a year ago if Aikins was capable of a crime such as this, she would not have thought it possible. At first, he added, Aikins’ alleged actions were met with disbelief. In the months that followed, that disbelief turned to feelings of betrayal, anger and fear, he said.

“Even in our home, she could not escape,” said Downey, who asked the court to then consider how damaging Aikins’ crime was to the young girls – not yet adults – whose privacy was violated. It was, he added, weeks before his wife could make her way back to the pool; months before she could enter the locker room. Aikins, said Downey, had admitted his guilt and should be held accountable for his actions.

“What he did was unacceptable,” he added.