Posted on 12/23/2007 5:12:28 AM PST by csvset
Man Charged With 5 Counts Of Possession Of Child Porn
John Stelmack, 60, the principal at Scott Lake Elementary School in Lakeland, was arrested at his home, located at 5749 Deer Track Trail in Lakeland, and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography.
Stelmack was suspended from his job as principal by the Polk County School Board on Dec. 14 after an administrative investigation led to the seizure of a black briefcase that contained pornographic images from his office, sheriff's deputies said.
According to a Polk County sheriff's report, Stelmack took routine photographs of children in a school setting, including a 10-year-old who attended Scott Lake Elementary last year, and digitally superimposed their faces onto nude images. The identified girl's facial image was on four of the pictures, and another unidentified female child's face was placed on the body of another nude image, the report stated.
"The photographs that Stelmack manipulated into child pornography are graphic and repulsive," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "To think that a school principal, someone who is entrusted with the safety and well-being of hundreds of school children, would do something like this is incomprehensible."
Stelmack is married and has two adult children. He came to Polk County from the New York state school system.
Detectives are serving a search warrant at his home and further charges may be filed against him depending on what is found, deputies said.
Stelmack was booked into the Polk County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said it has been conducting an investigation, which is ongoing, in cooperation with the Polk County School Board.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Bizarre. I wonder if he was fired/resigned and that’s why he left New York schools.
Another reason not to institutionalize your child for his or her education.
Hm?...Did his behavior at school or somewhere else raise suspicions?
I suspect that he was being creepy for quite a long time. Gee! Poor kids!
The NY Post once did a study and found that some incredibly high percentage of New York City public school teachers, especially those hired in the last 20 years, had some kind of police record for sexual crimes against minors. Some of them were even convicted felons - the City had simply never bothered to run even the most elementary checks when they processed their applications. It’s hard to get people to teach in NYC public schools, and the city didn’t seem to feel that being a convicted sex offender was anything that should stand in the way of hiring.
There should be a law against having a black briefcase, because people could keep pictures in it. We should not take any chances when it comes to protecting the children.
Yeah, we’re missing some facts here. I’m going to guess that the perv was using school property to produce his porn.
According to MyFOXTampaBay, John Stelmack, the principal of Scott Lake Elementary School in Lakeland, developed a reputation for being friendly with the students — too friendly, some parents thought.
"He's very touchy, huggy-feely with the children, as far as hugging them in the morning, saying hello, greeting them," said parent Stacy Williams. "My initial thought, which a lot of parents thought, was that he was just being overly friendly."
I have zero interest in little girls - zero. But I have thought-sins of my own.
How was this material discovered?
http://www.theledger.com/article/20071222/NEWS/712220451/1039
I love the copy that cops come up with.....there must a stylebook for police press releases somewhere.
Every day there are reports of abuse by teachers and students. Then there are the reports of waste, poor management, and ineffective teaching methods and poor student performance. I also have the stories reported to me by friends and relatives.
Has anyone noticed? In almost every case these are schools in “good” neighborhoods?
When are parents finally going to get it? They are taking a very big risk by institutionalizing their child. All of these reports can not be swept away any longer by saying this is the rare exception. Quite the contrary! A truly good and safe government school is the exception certainly not the norm.
It is going to get even riskier because homosexuals are now moving into the government school territory, and homosexuals hire other homosexuals.
http://lakelandlocal.com/2007/12/scott-lake-principal-arrested.html
But officials feign shock in this one
http://www.wivb.com/global/story.asp?s=7534766
Creepy looking dude.
"Having lunch in your office alone with some of the young girls is not appropriate. Girls coming up, stroking his tie. You don't do those things," said a parent who is a classroom volunteer and requested anonymity.
In another instance, she said she also witnessed a group of girls in Stelmack's office, with one having her legs draped over the armrest of a chair and wearing a short skirt.
Uh oh. That's just wrong.
Actually, he pasted the cropped images. But who expects headline writers to know what they’re talking about.
The arrest came just two days after Isaac Nathan Tillis, a Bartow High School math teacher, was arrested for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old student. Tillis, 29, of Highland City remains in Polk County Jail on $75,000 bail.
Covered here.
What was that about taking pictures of other people’s kids????
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