A high school track and field coach who is accused of hiding a GoPro camera inside of a towel to covertly record female students was arrested last Friday as he boarded a bus bound for a meet.
Brian Kitzman, 38, is being held at Rock County Jail on charges of possession of child pornography among other offenses. Police believe that Kitzman recorded 18 different teenage girls over a two year period.
In addition to being a track and field coach, Kitzman was formerly a swim coach for the Craig High School boys and girls team. Records show that he was hired by the school district since 2004.
He has been suspended pending further investigation. Officials said that there is nothing in the coach’s history that would have prevented him from being hired by the district.
The coach’s plot was discovered when a janitor at the school helped the student retrieve a lost towel that was in a locker that had a padlock labeled Craig High School.
Track and field high school coach Brian Kitzman was arrested Friday after officials found a GoPro camera that belonged to him in the girls’ locker room
Kitzman has been a coach at Craig High School in Janesville, Wisconsin, since 2004, he is also a graduate of the school
Investigators believe that Kitzman put the camera in the locker the day before it was found. He had used the stolen towel to cover the camera, Janesville Chief David Moore told the media.
The discovery was made around 9:30 am Friday, after it was reviewed, authorities were able to identify Kitzman as a suspect as footage on the camera showed him placing it in the locker. He was arrested at 2:00 pm.
When the coach’s home and car was searched, police found other recording and storage devices.
The chief said that Kitzman has confessed to his crime, saying that he has been recording children since 2021. He described using the videos for his ‘own interest.’ It’s not believed that he shared the footage elsewhere.
‘It is not lost on us the breach of trust that has occurred, but what we can offer is a thorough and prompt investigation, a transparent investigation,’ Moore said.
Kitzman told investigators that he began to record the students when he noticed a hole in the wall separating his office from the locker room, reports WKOW. His first recordings were made on his phone, police said.
The suspect is also the founder of The Phoenix Club, a track-and-field club. He established the club in 2021 in order to ‘create more interest and participation amongst youth athletes in the sports of track and field, cross country and triathlon.’
When the coach’s home and car was searched, police found other recording and storage devices
Kitzman told investigators that he began to record the students when he noticed a hole in the wall separating his office from the locker room, reports WKOW. His first recordings were made on his phone, police said
Kitzman has been suspended from his job and banned from setting foot in any school district buildings
Kitzman’s Facebook page is littered with images of him with student athletes. On the day of his arrest, the coach posted on Facebook about his excitement ahead of the meet.
‘Brian loves working with kids and strives to teach them to love physical fitness and how to lead a healthy lifestyle, his bio on the Phoenix Club’s website.
The profile mentions that Kitzman was formerly a student at Craig High School, where he was a track and field athlete as well as a swimmer. He was also a cross country athlete at Carroll University.
One former student of Kitzman’s wrote on Facebook that she was ‘beyond disgusted and frustrated’ by the coach’s alleged actions.
‘To have your privacy be taken away breaks my heart for these victims, and I hope they get resources to help them,’ she wrote.
Kitzman’s bond has been at $10,000. He will appear in court on May 17th.
Craig High School is located 40 miles south of Madison East High School. In 2021, David Kructhen, a Madison East teacher the girl’s tennis coach, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of covertly recording students.
He was charged following an investigation triggered by the discovery of hidden cameras that were planted in the Minneapolis hotel room of students he was chaperoning on a business club trip.
In that incident, a student found that an air freshener that Kructhen had brought with him on the trip was actually a surveillance camera.
Kruchten has taught in the Madison district since 2008, most recently as a business education and marketing instructor, according to his LinkedIn biography. He was listed as the assistant girls tennis coach on the high school’s website.
