FBI finds elementary school gym teacher in hotel room with naked girl, 5 or 6 years old; he's arrested on child porn charges



An Ohio elementary school gym teacher reportedly was hit with federal child porn charges after FBI agents found him in a hotel room late last month with a naked girl believed to be 5 or 6 years old.

Federal court documents accused 44-year-old Mark Altherr of making more than 260 posts on a website meant to serve pedophiles over the last three years.

The district immediately placed him on administrative leave.

Altherr had worked for the Oak Hills School District since 2019, according to officials.

The suspect had allegedly written on the website about his own acts of sexual abuse in regard to a 10-year-old neighbor, an 8-year-old he said had a "crush" on him, and a 4-year-old he was looking after.

FBI officials said they had been monitoring posts to the pedophile website when they uncovered Altherr's identity and discovered he worked at Delshire Elementary School.

Court documents said officers went to his home but were unable to find him. When they pinged his phone, they saw he was at a public place in Columbus. They followed him to a hotel where they allegedly found him in a room with the girl. Altherr was arrested July 26 — the same day agents started looking for him — and investigators determined he likely posted at least one explicit image of that same girl with him in the room to the website, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

More from the paper:

Agents obtained the room number from hotel staff, knocked on the door and announced their presence. According to the documents, Altherr opened the door, saw the agents and then tried to shut it. The agents prevented him from doing that and arrested him.

The FBI later seized two USB drives at his Delhi Township home that, according to court documents, contained videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Altherr was charged with one federal count of child pornography possession and one federal count of child pornography distribution. He could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted on both counts.

The district immediately placed him on administrative leave and said the charges were serious enough to begin the process of firing him.

"The Oak Hills Local School District is working closely with and fully cooperating with the FBI and law enforcement agents regarding the ongoing investigation," read a statement from district officials. "When more information becomes available, and legally permissible, we will share it with families and the community."

WCPO-TV published a video report that includes Altherr's booking photo.

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Former teacher who mocked conservatives online over grooming accusations has been sentenced to 17 years prison for child porn



A man who worked as a teacher in Hawaii was sentenced to 17 years in prison for producing child pornography after he mocked and railed against conservatives online accusing the left of harboring pedophiles.

35-year-old Alden Bunag was convicted of distributing videos of himself having sex with a former student who was 13 years old at the time. In addition to the prison time, Bunag must pay $30,000 in restitution and serve 15 years of supervised release.

Prior to the arrest, Bunag spewed hatred against conservatives and specifically accused them of secretly being pedophiles while tossing accusations against their political opponents.

"You're f***ing acting like we want to show kids porn or something, but something I've learned through the years is that whenever right-wingers accuse others of something, it's DEFINITELY because they're projecting," he wrote in a tweet.

In another missive, he proclaimed that he was helping destroy Western civilization by "trying to tear down gender roles and subtly instill socialist values into my high schoolers and elementary kids."

He also defended the use of books extolling the LGBTQ agenda in public schools against critics who said they were inappropriately sexual.

That account has since been suspended.

Federal prosecutors said that Bunag sent more than 3,300 messages to a teacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, many of which contained photographs and videos of child pornography. That teacher was arrested in October.

He worked as a summer school teacher at Pearl City High School and also at other schools in Hawaii. He identified himself as a socialist on social media.

“Bunag’s sentence reflects the horrendous nature of the crimes he committed, including against a child for whom the classroom became a place of torture rather than learning and nurturing,” read a statement from U.S. attorney Clare E. Connors.

Bunag is also facing charges for sex with a minor, and a plea deal is expected in that case as well.

Here's more about the conviction:

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Ohio high school teacher tried to arrange sex with 14-year-old through undercover agent he believed to be child's mother, FBI says



An Ohio social studies teacher was arrested on charges related to his conversations with an undercover agent he believed to be a mother who was going to arrange sex with him and her 14-year-old, the FBI said.

37-year-old Kevin Hedrick was arrested for numerous explicit conversations he had on the Kik app in October while at the Medina High School and using the schools internet connection, according to a criminal affidavit.

When investigators obtained a federal search warrant, they discovered a thousand images and videos containing child sexual abuse or exploitation on the teacher's Kik account.

Hedrick allegedly admitted to investigators in an interview that he had been talking to the undercover officer.

"Hedrick stated that he discussed and fantasized about having sexual relations with the woman and her 14-year-old daughter, but qualified the chats as only descriptive fantasies," the affidavit said.

Investigators said that Kik is often used by criminals to share child pornography or engage in human trafficking.

“Hedrick stated that he would install the Kik application on his phone, use it and then delete it. He would continually proceed in this fashion because he did not want his wife to find out about his conversations on Kik,” the affidavit said. “Hedrick stated that he also conducted this deleting behavior because he knew it was wrong.”

The teacher was placed on paid administrative leave as the investigation continued, but Medina City Schools Superintendent Aaron Sable told parents in a letter that they would take steps to fire Hedrick unless he resigned.

"We remind everyone about online dangers, including chat rooms and messaging apps," wrote Sable. "The FBI has free helpful age and grade appropriate activities and resources for students and educators to learn how to surf safely and be more aware when online."

Hedrick was charged with possession of child pornography and attempting to entice a minor for sex. His lawyer said that he has pleaded not guilty.

A detention hearing for Hedrick is scheduled for January 13.

Here's a local news story about the arrest:

Medina teacher charged with possession of child pornographywww.youtube.com