America's Best Kids facility on Sky Park Drive in Medford.

A 29-year-old former employee of a kids gym in Medford was charged with 27 criminal counts after the organization reported to police allegations that he took images of unsuspecting female staff members, including some younger than 18, in a staff office that was also used as a private changing room.

Blaine Patrick William Howitt was arrested by Medford police June 22 after officials with America’s Best Kids, 1914 Sky Park Dr., reported the alleged conduct, believed to have occurred over three years.

“Mr. Howitt’s employment was terminated, and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement,” ABK said in a prepared statement Friday. “Mr. Howitt’s behavior is an egregious violation of our organizational values and the individual rights of our employees. … We care deeply for the well-being of all under our care, and we take decisive action to remove any individual who poses a threat to their welfare.”

ABK went on to say in its statement that “evidence indicates that the conduct at ABK was limited to staff and the staff office and that no patrons or children in the care of ABK were captured in the images or video” Howitt allegedly took.

The statement continued, “We understand that this incident may be deeply unsettling to you as parents and guardians, as it is for us. We are firmly dedicated to the best interests of all and to helping create as safe an environment as humanly possible for our students and staff.”

Howitt did not respond to a phone call requesting comment from the Rogue Valley Times Friday.

Howitt was arraigned June 23 on two counts of using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, first-degree invasion of privacy and second-degree invasion of privacy.

He was indicted June 30 by a grand jury on charges of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse; seven counts of first-degree invasion of personal privacy; five counts of computer crime; three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct; and three counts of second-degree invasion of personal privacy. He is scheduled for another arraignment at 9 a.m. July 28 before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Sara Collins.

Howitt’s alleged victims included five female adults and two juveniles, according to information provided by the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.

Howitt allegedly recorded his victims in “a state of nudity and in a place and circumstance where (they) had a reasonable expectation of personal privacy,” according to information from the D.A.

Howitt also allegedly committed “theft of an intimate image” by using at least one computer. 

Howitt was jailed on $250,000 bond and made bail June 28, according to court records. He is out on pretrial supervision and is ordered not have contact with minor children unless at the direction of the court or under the supervision of the Department of Human Services.