INVESTIGATES: Man accused of recording people in school bathroom also a registered sex offender

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — 25-year-old Jamal Collins is sitting in a jail cell after he was arrested for allegedly recording cellphone video of two people in a bathroom stall at Riverside High School.

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A DCPS investigator says the incident happened September 9. The investigation revealed a “male and female” went into the boys room after school hours. While they were in the stall, they saw a red iPhone peering underneath it. The report says the two were partially undressed.

An investigator says when the two left the stall, a man ran from the bathroom. According to the investigator, surveillance video showed a man near the restroom with a red phone in his hand.

Investigators say Collins’ mother is a dance instructor at a local school, adding that she identified her son as the man seen with the red cell phone. According to investigators, she said Collins was helping with an after-school activity.

A police report lists Collins as an event planner for the First Coast Leadership Foundation in Jacksonville, which mentors and tutors students.

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“I feel for the kids – the students at the school that he recorded,” said an anonymous viewer.

The foundation reached out to Action News Jax Thursday and said Collins is no longer working for them and hasn’t been since 2020. However, Action News Jax found that his photo was listed on the foundation’s website earlier in the week.

The anonymous viewer told Action News Jax their nephew went to a summer camp run by the organization. A screenshot from the viewer shows Collins’ picture on the foundation’s website, which appears to have since been removed.

The viewer told Action News Jax a friend of theirs that worked for the organization said Collins was a registered sex offender.

The FDLE reports Collins was convicted of sexual battery in 2019.

The viewer says they were told Collins didn’t directly work with any of the kids.

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“Everybody needs to be held accountable to ensure nothing like this happens again,” the viewer said, adding that they worry Collins has hurt other kids.

On Friday, Oct. 29, Duval County Public Schools offered the following statement on Collins’ arrest:

While our review of the matter continues, we were appalled to learn that a volunteer apparently brought her son, now known to be a sex offender, to afterschool activities last month. Upon learning of Mr. Collins’ background as a result of his arrest for the alleged incident, the volunteer who brought him to campus was disassociated from the school earlier this week.

It should be noted that the volunteer was associated with afterschool student activities under the direction of a teacher, who is a staff member of the school with responsibility for these afterschool activities.  The person who brought her son to the campus assisted the teacher as a volunteer instructor.

Because Mr. Collins was not officially associated with the program and was in attendance as a guest of his mother, the volunteer, there was no way for the school or the teacher in charge to know of Mr. Collins’ status as a sex offender at the time of the incident.

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