WHEELING — There are now 42 women – including 10 minors – planning to sue the West Virginia State Police over hidden cameras found in the women’s locker room at the State Police Academy in Institute, West Virginia.

Wheeling attorney Teresa Toriseva has informed both Interim WVSP Superintendent Colonel Jack Chambers and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey that there will now be litigation filed on behalf of 42 women who attended or visited the Police Academy since 1994.

Ten of the females were minors at the time of the alleged incidents and were attending the Junior Trooper Academy, according to Toriseva.

Toriseva believes all of the females may have been filmed while using the female locker room at the facility. A thumb drive believed to have contained evidence of the alleged video recording was destroyed by troopers believed to have been involved, reported former WVSP Superintendent Jan Cahill.

“Our ongoing investigation shows rampant sexual misconduct, including hidden videotaping, toward female cadets and others, while they attended the academy,” she said. “Much of the conduct is through witness-provided evidence. With the destruction of the video files by the State Police, many of these women will be forced to live without knowing who saw them recorded on secret video cameras.

“The only result for these women can be full disclosure of all the facts and acknowledgement of the misconduct by the State Police. We continue to call for an independent, federal investigation into the West Virginia State Police and treatment of women at the academy.”

In her letter to Chambers and Morrisey, Toriseva states that “several of these women were subjected to varying levels of physical and emotional abuse and were most likely videotaped with hidden cameras in the locker room.”

“All of these women were victims of a civil conspiracy perpetrated by instructors, staff and leadership at the West Virginia State Police Academy,” the letter states. “Accordingly, these women will bring suit seeking all available damages under the law.”

The controversy regarding the hidden cameras resulted in Cahill resigning on March 20.

Toriseva is representing three current and former female troopers and three of the minors who attended the Junior Trooper Program. All of them already have filed separate notices of intent to sue.

Four other women already have filed suit in Kanawha Circuit Court by attorneys Troy Giatras and Matthew Stonestreet of The Giatras Law Firm in Charleston and Ronald N. Walters Jr. of Walters Law Office in Charleston.