Jarrod Girdley

Introduction

Jarrod Girdley is a West Plains, Missouri, man — born in 1976, according to online court dockets — who worked as an assistant coach in the West Plains school system and was charged with two misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy involving a victim younger than 18 after a camera hidden inside an ink pen was found in a bathroom at his residence. The device, which had a camera lens, a charging port, and an SD card inside, was discovered by the victim on September 19, 2026, and a forensic examination of its deleted storage later recovered video showing the minor nude inside the bathroom. The West Plains School District terminated Girdley on September 22, 2026, with the school board approving the termination on October 12 .

Background Information

Public information about Girdley’s career is limited to his coaching role in the West Plains system, which ended with his termination in September 2026. The district’s superintendent moved quickly to separate the case from the school itself: “Nothing happened at school or at a school activity,” Superintendent Wesley Davis said in a statement after the termination. “That needs to be clear to all patrons and parents. With that being said, the safety and security of all students and staff is always our number one concern. Besides that, we are limited on what we can discuss on personnel issues” .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged; presumption of innocence. Girdley faces misdemeanor counts that have not been tested in court. He has denied wrongdoing and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to the probable cause statement, the victim found the disguised recording device — an ink pen containing a camera lens, a charging port, and an SD card — inside a bathroom closet at the residence on September 19, 2026. When confronted about the incident, Girdley stated that he knew it looked bad but denied wrongdoing, the statement said. The camera pen was later found in a desk drawer at the residence after it had been removed from the bathroom closet, and the recording device and its accompanying storage cards were turned over to the Howell County Sheriff’s Office .

Law enforcement obtained the memory cards and the recording device through a search warrant. The contents of the SD card had been deleted, but a forensic examination recovered them, and officials said the recordings showed the minor nude inside the bathroom. Investigators were also provided with a screenshot of a purchase receipt indicating Girdley bought the recording device in December 2025 — roughly nine months before its discovery .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequences moved from the classroom to the courthouse within days. The West Plains School District terminated Girdley on September 22, 2026 — three days after the device’s discovery — and the school board formally approved the termination on October 12. The district’s public message paired the firing with an assurance that nothing connected to the case occurred at school or at a school activity, an attempt to contain the alarm that an arrest involving a coach and a hidden camera in a bathroom inevitably produces in a small-community district .

Current Status

Girdley has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy involving a victim younger than 18, per online court dockets. He is out on bond, with an initial court appearance scheduled for November 16, 2026. No plea has been entered, no trial date has been set, and no attorney was identified in the fetched coverage. The case remains at its opening stage, with the recovered recordings and the purchase receipt screenshot forming the core of the probable-cause account .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Girdley’s coaching career in the West Plains system ended with a termination approved by his school board before the charges were even public, and the misdemeanor counts now pending against him carry the kind of accusation — covert recording of a minor — that outlasts any docket. The district’s handling shows the other side of the ledger: a superintendent drawing a hard line between the case and the school day while the board moved to erase him from the payroll within three days of the device’s discovery. For the victim and the family, the case turned on a forensic recovery that resurrected deleted footage from a device designed to look like an ordinary pen .

Sources

• KOLR OzarksFirst via Yahoo News, “Hidden camera disguised as pen leads to charges against former West Plains coach,” November 4, 2026 — source