OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A northeast Mississippi middle school coach is now facing federal charges of attempting to produce child pornography after officials say he recorded girls changing in a locker room.

Alcorn County deputies arrested Micah Macay Wilbanks on May 2 after authorities say a student found Wilbanks’ hidden cellphone in a locker room at Kossuth Middle School. The coach was charged in state court with public intoxication, drug possession, and secretly photographing for lewd purposes.

Federal charges were filed last week, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Percy on Tuesday ordered Wilbanks to be held in federal custody without bail. Percy is scheduled Thursday to consider keeping Wilbanks in jail pending grand jury action.
A lawyer for Wilbanks didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment.

A sworn statement filed by a federal task force officer says Kossuth Middle School Principal Sam Roberts called Alcorn County deputies May 2 after some middle school girls found the phone and showed it to another coach. The federal agent says Coach Angie Malone confronted Wilbanks and he showed her where he had hidden the phone and acknowledged recording.

The statement says Malone told the school principal that Wilbanks was “high as a kite” and that when Roberts found Wilbanks, Wilbanks was having trouble walking in a straight line and had slurred speech.

The charging document says Wilbanks told Roberts “he had messed up and didn’t deserve to be in public education.” The documents say deputies called to the school overheard Wilbanks describing himself as a “pedophile” and arrested him for intoxication, finding him in possession of what appeared to be methamphetamine.

The statement also says the task force officer found three videos on the phone. According to the statement, only one had girls changing clothing, and during that video the girls found the phone.