Phoenixville Special Education Teacher Charged With Possessing Child Porn
By Brad Segall, Todd Quinones
PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- A special ed middle school teacher in Chester County is behind bars in lieu of a quarter of a million dollars' bail, charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.
Pennsylvania State Police conducted an undercover investigation into the sharing of child porn on the Internet. Troopers downloaded files containing multiple images and videos and say the IP address led them to Kenneth Hamilton Jr., a special education teacher at Phoenixville Middle School.
Chester County first assistant DA Michael Noone says viewing child porn is often the first step to sexually abusing kids, and access to children is the second step.
"This was a middle school teacher who had child pornography on his computers in his home. This was an extremely dangerous situation, and the state police did an excellent job of neutralizing this threat," Noone said today.
Hamilton faces 13 felony counts. He's been placed on leave without pay.
The school district sent a notice to parents after learning of the charges. No one says there is no indication that any students from the school were involved.
On Monday evening, the School District released a statement that reads in part:
"Following a phone call from his family, Phoenixville Area School District has learned through published media reports of the arrest of Phoenixville Area Middle School teacher Kenneth Hamilton, Jr. on charges of possession of child pornography.
At this time, the District has not received any official notification from authorities regarding those charges.
The District will, of course, cooperate fully with any investigation into these allegations, if requested to do so."
