Bowling Green Substitute Teacher Sentenced for Child Porn
Sept. 2, 2016
Being convicted of a sex offense involving children is certain to change the trajectory of one's life. In fact, even being accused of such an offense even if a conviction is not forthcoming is enough to tarnish the reputation of even highly respected individuals.
One Bowling Green man is likely experiencing some of those negative consequences. The man, who worked as a substitute teacher for the Bowling Green School System, was convicted last month in United States District Court of both distribution and possession of child pornography. He received a 10-year sentence and will be supervised for the rest of his life following his release from prison. He also has to pay $50,000 in fines and another $15,000 to his victims.
His arrest came after an international investigation that was initiated in January 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, after the city's Child Exploitation Section learned a group was involved with sexually abusing children and distributing child pornography. In June, an undercover detective constable noticed a chat room user using "I luv boys" as his username while he live-streamed child porn to other users. Detectives were able to trace the IP address to the man in Bowling Green.
Police arrested him on Sept. 1, 2015; a grand jury handed down an indictment weeks later and the defendant pleaded guilty in May of this year. At his sentencing, the man admitted to streaming sex acts involving children three times to others via his webcam.
When police searched his home, they seized various types of computer media. A Computer Forensics Agent previewed an HP Pavilion with multiple videos of child pornography, some of which had been already been seen by undercover operatives in pedophile chat rooms. These videos were tied to the defendant through his IP address.
A thorough defense attorney can present evidentiary challenges and question whether a defendant's rights were upheld during the execution of the search warrant and the arrest itself.
Source: ColumbiaMagazine.com, "Bowling Green, KY, substitute teacher sentenced to 10 years," U.S. Attorney's Office Department of Justice, Western District of KY, Aug. 19, 2016