Teacher Smackdown

In Lincoln Nebraska, power-lifting coach and youth volunteer, James C. Hart, 48, is jailed on charges of possessing and creating a child pornography video.

Hart used a MySpace account to persuade underage girls to take nude pictures of themselves and send them to him. Using the screen name “J-C,” his profile said he was 18-years-old and had over 1,000 MySpace friends.

A mom who found sexually explicit images of her 16-year-old daughter on the family PC started the investigation. (Way to go mom!) She found out that Hart was coercing her daughter to send him more and more pictures via his MySpace account.

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In Honeoye Falls, New York, substitute teacher Timothy J. Meehan, 23, was arrested for multiple sex offenses involving underaged girls. The charges include disseminating indecent material to minors in the first degree, promoting sexual performance of a child, criminal sexual act in the third degree, and endangering the welfare of a child. What a busy guy!

Meehan was a substitute teacher in the Honeoye Falls Central School District for all of 17 days. Yet he had enough time to befriend two teenage girls and take advantage of them sexually. Nice…not.

He sent them sexual pictures to their cellphones, and askedthem to return the favor with naughty pictures of themselves. Uh oh! Meehan is also accused of sexual contact with a female less than 17 years old. The criminal acts all occured outside of school.

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In Immokee, Florida, U.S. Marshalls arrested drama teacher, Andrew L. Foster, 27, after a two week manhunt. He’d been on the run from Boynton Beach (Florida) and school board police for more than two weeks after being charged with having sex with two 17-year-old Santaluces High School students, one of whom became pregnant.

Foster was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, child abuse, transmission of harmful material to minors and transmission of pornography by electronic device for sending sexually explicit photos and videos over his cell phone to the two girls.

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Substitute Robert Ashley, 63, will be extradited from Montrose, Colorado to New Mexico for sexual assault on a child. An informant tipped off authorities that Ashley was staying at a Montrose hotel. Deputies took him into custody after an hour long surveillance.

Ashley is accused of hiding a video camera in a backpack to shoot upskirt pictures of young female students. Seems that staff at Atrisco Elementary found the video camera inside a backpack in the teacher’s lounge. The principal, an educational assistant and another teacher viewed the video, and called school district police. The next day a school counselor called the sheriff’s department (Kudos to school officials for acting quickly!)

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In Bradford, Vermont, Bradford Elementary teacher, Richard Foster, 51, was arrested on five felony counts relating to sexual abuse of a child:

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Aren’t you tired of hearing about teachers getting arrested for child porn? Boy, I sure am. But the arrests keep happening!

In Neptune, New Jersey, FBI agents found child porn on Middle Road School elementary teacher Robert Cholowinski’s home computer. Cholowinski, 46, told agents that he’s been trading in child pornography over the Internet for several years now.

He’s been suspended with pay from teaching third grade. Authorities told school officials that there is no evidence suggesting that there were any pictures of students involved.

Cholowinski’s bail has been set at $250,000. Guess down at the Shore everything is NOT all right.

Robert Cholowinski, child porn, Neptune New Jersey

In White Plains, New York, federal agents arrested Allen Julier, 54, a Scarsdale High School art teacher for possession of child porn. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents found more than 100 images of child pornography and more than 10 videos of illegal material.

Julier admitted that downloaded and viewed child pornography on his home computer. He said he used paid websites to do so. However, ICE officials have not asked to see his computer at school. School officials did not find anything on his work computer.

Julier was placed on paid administrative leave by the school district. He was released on $50,000 bond, and could up to five years in prison if convicted.

The weird thing about this case? Why is ICE involved? Usually they handle immigration issues and the FBI handles child porn. Odd.

Allen Julier, internet porn, child porn, pornography, sexual abuse

In Westport, Connecticut, former Bedford Middle School art teacher, Paul Held, 69, is being sentenced in one of the most disturbing child porn cases the U.S. Attorney’s office has ever seen.

Held had a huge collection of 3 million to 4 million child porn images. Authorities say that some of the pictures were taken in Held’s home, and others were taken in school including “under skirt” photos of his unsuspecting students. He also confessed to collecting snuff films showing the rape and murder of children.

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Last April, teacher John Hawthorne, 42, was charged with eight felony counts of lewd acts with a child. He was accused of molesting five female students in his Martin Luther King Jr. Academy class in Salinas, California. He was out on $800,000 bail when prosecutors said they found child pornography on his personal computer.

The police say that have identified other victims and more occurrences than they already knew about. 13 girls between the ages of 10 and 11 have come forward to say that Hawthorne molested them.

The prosecutor said he could not discuss the details of the new charges, which were the result of an ongoing investigation by the Salinas Police Department. But boy do they sound serious especially since the original victims’ testimony sounded a little hinkey - stuff about over-the-clothes touching appearing to be misinterpreted hugs.

This is a case we’ll have to keep a close eye on. Stay tuned.

John Hawthorne, child molestation, child pornography, sexual abuse, Martin Luther King Jr. Academy

In Pooler, Georgia, Saint Andrew’s School music teacher Joshua Evans, 25, was arrested on federal charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and child pornography charges.

Since his home was searched by the FBI, US Immigration, GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation), and the Pooler Police Department I’m guessing that there’s more to this story than Evans looking at underage girls on the internet. Seems that Evans was trying to arrange to have sex and get nude photos of someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Whoops!

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In Louisiana, it’s illegal to take pictures of people without their consent and use them for lewd or lascivious purposes. It’s called the video voyeurism law. An example of this is upskirt pictures.

Duane Champagne, 41, a coach at Saints Leo Seton in Lafayette, was detained at Blue Bayou Water Park for taking pictures of girls as young as 10 years of age. If Champagne is convicted, he faces two to 10 years at prison and fines up to $10,000.

After his arrest, police found more than 13,000 pictures of young girls in bikinis on his home computer. The police said he manipulated some of them, and I can only imagine what that means. They also checked his school computer and found nothing inappropriate, however.

Even so, school officials fired Champagne for violating this contract’s morality clause.

The lesson in all this? Parents make sure that no one is taking pictures of your kids at the rec center, neighborhood pool or beach. (Trust your gut - you’ll know if it’s a grandpa taking pictures of his grandkids.) If you have any suspicions, call 911 and get police there immediately.

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Duane Champagne, upskirt, video voyeurism, pictures of young girls

In Maryland, the Howard County Board of Education fired Joseph Samuel Ellis, 26, a Glenelg High School teacher accused of sexually abusing two female students. The board is also in the process of terminating two other teachers charged with sexual offenses - River Hill High School science teacher Alan Beier and Marriotts Ridge High School special education teacher Kirsten Kinley.

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What the hell is going on in Howard County, Maryland? This year three teachers have been arrested for sexual shenanigans with minors.

Police say Kirsten Ann Kinley, 27, with having sex on two separate occasions with a 15-year-old boy in her apartment. The boy said Kinley was not his teacher but that he had met her through a friend. The boy also supplied police with evidence that Kinley sent him sexually explicit text messages and photographs of herself. The special education teacher is charged with two counts of third degree sex offense, two counts of fourth degree sex offense, and two counts of solicitation of a minor.

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In Bethlehem, Pa., Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra was arrested for selling crystal methamphetamine from his office after school and on weekends. There is no evidence that he sold drugs to students at the school.

After making a deal to sell a police informant meth, police found Accerra in his school office naked, watching gay pornography, with sex toys, meth and a glass drug pipe nearby.

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