California High School Football Coach Placed on Leave and Arrested After Students Uncover Locker Room Recording Device

A veteran educator and athletic coach in Northern California has been taken into custody following a troubling incident involving covert surveillance inside a high school changing facility. Authorities in the city of Tracy, situated east of the San Francisco Bay Area, confirmed the arrest of a varsity coach after students discovered a mobile phone hidden and actively capturing footage within their campus locker room.

The suspect was formally identified by the Tracy Police Department as 48-year-old Jeffrey Pribble, a longtime staff member at Tracy High School. According to school records and institutional social media profiles, Pribble serves as an instructor within the school's physical education program and has led the varsity football team as its head coach for the past five seasons.

Information shared through his educational and social media background indicates that Pribble has accumulated roughly 22 years of total experience as an educator within the Tracy Unified School District. His extensive history within the local school system made the allegations and subsequent arrest a matter of significant concern for the broader school community.

The chain of events leading to the coach's apprehension began on a Thursday during school hours, when a student and several classmates noticed a mobile phone positioned inside the campus locker room. The students observed that the device was actively recording while individuals were present and changing their clothes, prompting immediate intervention by the pupils.

Upon realizing what was occurring, the students acted swiftly to address the situation. They immediately stopped the recording on the smartphone, deleted the recorded video file that had been captured, and turned the physical handset over to a teacher on campus so that the school could handle the matter.

Later that evening, the incident escalated to law enforcement after a concerned parent contacted Tracy police patrol officers to report the discovery of the hidden phone. The report triggered an immediate and coordinated police response aimed at determining who owned the device and why it was positioned inside a private locker area.

Both school resource officers assigned to the campus and departmental detectives were dispatched to investigate the report. Law enforcement personnel worked through the evening and into the following morning to examine the device and uncover the circumstances behind its placement in the student changing area.

By Friday, investigators successfully traced the cellphone directly to Pribble. Once law enforcement established that the educator owned the recording device found inside the locker room, officers placed him under arrest that same day, shifting the matter from an internal campus issue into a formal criminal investigation.

In the wake of the arrest, administrators at the Tracy Unified School District took formal administrative action. District officials confirmed that Pribble has been placed on leave while authorities conduct their criminal investigation alongside a separate administrative inquiry launched by the school district itself.

Following the arrest, Tracy High School Principal Jon Waggle communicated with the school community through an email distributed to parents and guardians. While the principal's notice acknowledged the arrest of a campus employee, it did not publicly disclose the staff member's identity or detail the specific allegations, noting instead that district leadership is cooperating fully with the police department.

In his message, Principal Waggle addressed the gravity of the situation, stating that school leaders understand the serious concerns such developments create for local families. He emphasized that the district remains dedicated to the overall welfare of students and staff and reiterated an institutional commitment to holding all personnel to the highest professional and ethical standards.

The principal also expressed pride in the safety standards maintained across Tracy High School and the wider district. Waggle underscored that campus safety depends directly on ongoing cooperation among pupils, guardians, and faculty, extending his appreciation to community members for their continued partnership and vigilance.

City law enforcement leadership similarly underscored the critical importance of safeguarding student privacy in educational environments. Tracy Police Chief Sekou Millington affirmed that maintaining the safety and personal privacy of local students remains a primary objective for the police department, stating that young people deserve to feel secure in every school setting where they learn, grow, and spend their days.

Chief Millington concluded by praising the proactive decision of the students who detected the recording device and reported it to responsible adults. The police chief also commended the responding patrol officers, resource officers, and detectives whose investigative efforts led to the rapid identification and arrest of the suspect.