Former teacher facing trial for student photos

WILKES-BARRE – A former Dallas Middle School special-education teacher charged with taking inappropriate photos of female students waived his right to a formal arraignment in county court Thursday.

David Shuga, 49, of Terrace Avenue, Kingston Township, waived the formal arraignment through his attorney, Frank Nocito, and entered a plea of not guilty.

Shuga was charged in June with a single count of invasion of privacy after authorities alleged he used a cellphone to take pictures of "intimate parts" of female students.

Shuga, free on $5,000 bail, will next be scheduled for a pre-trial conference before a county judge.

Shuga submitted his resignation the same day Superintendent Frank Galicki said administrators became aware of the allegations.

The Dallas School Board accepted Shuga's resignation on June 11.

According to court papers, two students reported to school staff on June 4 that they felt Shuga was taking inappropriate pictures of female students in his instruction room located in the middle school. The students believed Shuga had been taking pictures on a cellphone since December.

One of the students stated she had a picture of Shuga taking a photograph of another female student under a table, the complaint says. Authorities said the picture taken by the student depicted Shuga seated in a chair and holding an open flip-style cellphone under the table with the face of the phone pointed in the opposite direction.

Authorities allege in the complaint that Shuga admitted taking pictures of female students, specifically of the students' groin and buttocks areas, according to the complaint.

Shuga stated, the complaint alleges, he was sexually aroused by the pictures.