By Lateef Mungin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An Alpharetta, Ga. woman thought she was helping a lost motorist over the weekend when she approached a man in a black SUV.
She was shocked, she said, to see the man exposing himself. He offered her money and asked her to get into the vehicle, she told police.
Startled, the woman reached for her cellphone. But instead of calling 911, she took some pictures.
Those photos helped police arrest Theodore Robert Neuman, director of the Community Schools program for Duluth High School and a former principal of the school.
For Gwinnett County police, obtaining evidence in such a fashion was groundbreaking. Across the country, though, people have used camera phones to capture images of everything from license plates to would-be attackers.
In August, a 15-year-old boy from Clifton, N.J., foiled a kidnapping attempt by using a cellphone to take photos of man trying to lure him into a car.
The boy also snapped a photo of the car’s license plate, leading police to a suspect.
Not all people who own such phones have the purest of motives, however. As the phones become more prevalent, explicit pictures shot surreptitiously also are turning up on the Internet.
In the Gwinnett case, the police - armed with two photos taken Saturday in a Norcross parking lot off Holcomb Bridge Road - charged Neuman, 52, with public indecency.
Neuman resigned Tuesday as director of Community Schools, said Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett schools.
Neuman cited personal reasons for quitting, Roach said. Neuman did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Lisa Johnson, 36, of Alpharetta said she was loading the trunk of her car when a man driving a black Acura SUV stopped behind her.
She approached the driver and realized that he was exposing himself, according to a police report.
The man allegedly offered Johnson $20 to show her breasts and asked her to get into his vehicle.
Johnson told police she pretended to miss a call on her cellphone, then used it to snap two pictures.
Johnson printed the photos and gave them to police along with the car’s tag number, which she had written down, according to the police report.
Police identified the man as Neuman from the pictures and his tag number.
Johnson told police Neuman had approached her on two previous occasions over the last several months, though he did not expose himself, she said.
Neuman was arrested Sunday at his Norcross home, and was released from jail after posting a $2,800 bond.
News of the arrest came as a shock to colleagues at Gwinnett County Schools.
“He has been with the system for quite a while,” Roach said. “He is very well-known.”
Neuman had worked in the Gwinnett school system since 1981. He was principal of Duluth High School for 18 years before retiring in 2002.
After his retirement, he worked part-time as director of the Community Schools program at the high school.
Although Neuman has resigned, Gwinnett County Schools’ human resources office will still report him to the Professional Standards Commission, which could take action against his teaching credentials.