A teacher at Sandy Creek High

School was arrested Friday morning after sheriff's detectives caught him

using a webcam on a computer in his classroom to display "a sex act"

via the Internet, according to police.

Damian T. Belvedere, 44, was

charged with two misdemeanor counts of distributing obscene materials

and one count of public indecency, according to Maj. Bruce Jordan of the

Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Belvedere was arrested at Sandy Creek

Friday morning after he was caught performing "a sex act" on

the school-owned computer during his break period, Jordan said.

Belvedere, a former wrestling

coach for both Sandy Creek and McIntosh High School, has also taught at

Starr's Mill High School and has been with the school system for 15 years.

He was granted $15,000 bond by Magistrate Bob Ruppenthal on the condition

he seek counseling "to include psycho-sexual issues." Belvedere

is also restricted from returning to any property operated by the school

system.

School spokesperson Melinda

Berry-Dreisbach said steps are being taken to insure students will not

come into contact with Belvedere through the school system. School officials

are concerned with making sure there is no disruption for students as

a permanent replacement is sought for Belvedere's 12th-grade social studies

classes, she said.

Since Belvedere is a contract

employee, his employment status is being investigated by the school system's

attorney, Berry-Dreisbach said. The matter has also been referred to the

Georgia Professional Practices Commission, which licenses teachers and

could revoke Belvedere's certification to teach.

School officials sent a letter

home to parents Monday about the situation, Berry-Dreisbach said.

Jordan said two witnesses from

south Georgia who would meet with Belvedere on the Internet cooperated

with the investigation. One of the witnesses arranged to meet with him

online Friday morning and told detectives via telephone the exact moment

to enter the classroom to catch Belvedere in the act, Jordan added. Detectives

used a pass key to enter the locked classroom, Jordan said.

"We did not arrange the

place ... nor how he conducted himself," Jordan said.

The witnesses were both adults,

and there are no allegations that any juveniles were involved, Jordan

said.

Both witnesses originally contacted

authorities because the location of the "indecent" video appeared

to be a school classroom, Jordan said. The witnesses originally contacted

the Coweta County Sheriff's Department since Belvedere at one time tried

to meet them at a location in Coweta off I-85, Jordan said. Coweta authorities

passed the information along to Fayette County after determining he didn't

teach there, Jordan added.

Jordan said evidence from the

school-owned computer indicated that Belvedere would visit the adult chat

room "on a daily basis" and detectives believe the incidents

have been occurring since the beginning of the school year.

Belvedere is only being charged

with two incidents that occurred in the past week and the incident witnessed

Belvedere would "target"

women over the age of 30 in the adult-oriented chat room on a Yahoo! Web

site, Jordan said. He added that the witnesses did not expose themselves

during their online encounters with Belvedere.

"He routinely visited

that chat room for sex talk," Jordan said, indicating it appeared

to be "a daily ritual."

Detectives also seized evidence

from Belvedere's desk in the classroom that contained his DNA, Jordan

said.

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