Teacher accused of taking video up woman's skirt faces misdemeanor, not felony charge

CONWAY, AR - Police arrested Vilonia High School Teacher Michael Rush at a Conway Walmart Tuesday. Rush is accused of using an iPod to record images underneath women's skirts.

"Right there he drops a piece of paper on the ground, like a shopping list, and while he's picking it up," explained Ofc. Sean Canady while watching surveillance footage, "he uses his other hand with the notebook to put the ipod sticking out of it, it's about that much, right underneath her dress."

Police said Rush has done the same thing at Walmart at least four times, and now he's charged with misdemeanor harassment.

"That's probably appropriate," said University of Arkansas at Little Rock Criminology Professor Dr. Jeff Walker. "There's not a law for everything."

Walker says while a misdemeanor charge may seem light for an incident of this nature, authorities don't have many options because laws tend to be well behind technology.

"We're just now starting to catch up across the country with sexting laws, and that's been going on for five or six years," he said.

Looking down the road, Walker doesn't anticipate any big changes in legislation because of these types of incidents. He said technology just moves too fast.

Rush didn't immediately return our calls seeking comment. For now, he's still employed by the Vilonia School District. Superintendent Frank Mitchell says because student's aren't currently at school, he'll make the appropriate decision regarding Rush's employment at the appropriate time.