Key figure in ‘Webcamgate’ invokes Fifth

A Lower Merion School District official at the center of the "Webcamgate" scandal invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination today.

Carol Cafiero, the district's information-systems coordinator, had attempted last month to quash a subpoena ordering her to give a deposition for the federal invasion-of-privacy lawsuit filed in February. A judge rejected her motion.

She refused today to answer any questions pertaining to Lower Merion's controversial practice of remotely activating webcams on laptops issued to high school students, according to Mark Haltzman, the attorney for the Harriton High School student who is suing the district.

"To each and every question I would ask her, other than her name, she asserted the Fifth, even after I told her that everybody else had come in and fully cooperated and provided complete testimony as to what took place," Haltzman said.

Haltzman represents sophomore Blake Robbins, 15, who claims a high school official reprimanded him for activity secretly captured by his school-issued laptop inside his Penn Valley home. His lawsuit sparked an investigation by the FBI and Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

Cafiero was one of two school-district employees authorized to remotely activate the cameras. Her lawyer, Charles Mandracchia, has previously said she did nothing wrong. Mandracchia did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment today.