Alleged pee peeper a disgraced former schoolteacher

Detectives investigating Durham video store owner Timothy Klick for allegedly spying on his female employees while they used the store bathroom are hoping that, if any other victims are out there, they will come forward to tell their stories.

Klick was placed under citizen’s arrest by one of the store’s 18-year-old female employees April 25 during a sting operation set up by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. Klick was taken into custody and booked on a misdemeanor peeping count. He was free on bail by Monday morning, when he refused comment on the case by telephone.

According to Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Burdine, the arresting employee witnessed Klick looking at her through a hole in the wall separating the bathroom from Klick’s office.

Klick, owner of Whistle Stop Video on Durham-Dayton Highway, is a former Paradise High School math teacher who was arrested in 1995 for making sexual advances toward his underage students. Court records show that Klick was accused of showing a videotape of himself masturbating to a student in his classroom and offering good grades to three female students in exchange for sex.

A plea bargain allowed Klick to plead “no contest” to the relatively light charge of “annoying a minor,” and though his victims begged the judge for a stiffer sentence, Klick was given 90 days in jail and three years’ probation. He was not required to register as a sex offender, but his teaching credential was revoked.

Burdine said Klick was “very cooperative” with investigators, who turned over the store for clues but declined to search Klick’s house for further evidence. If Klick had been caught videotaping or photographing unsuspecting victims, the charge would likely have been more serious.

Whistle Stop, now closed for the duration, did not sell adult videos.