Florida elementary school teacher arrested on child pornography charges

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Authorities arrested a Florida elementary school teacher Thursday on a slew of child pornography charges after deputies said he shared several pornographic videos of children online.

Deputies arrested Aleck Ford, 36, on one count each of possession of a sexual performance of a child and tampering with evidence, along with 30 counts of possession of 10 or more child porn images, according to court records.

Ford works as a teacher at Sandpiper Shores Elementary School in Boca Raton, WPTV reported. On Friday, officials with the School District of Palm Beach County told the news station that Ford had been reassigned “pending the outcome of an investigation.”

Authorities arrested Ford as part of an inquiry launched in March into an account with the username “John2” that shared child pornography on an online peer-to-peer network. Such networks allow users to directly share files between computers.

Officials said one of the pornographic videos shared by John2 featured a girl between 10 and 13 years old.

A detective on the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children task force traced the IP address used by “John2” to Ford’s apartment in Boca Raton, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court. On Thursday, Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at the home and seized an Acer laptop that contained “multiple files deemed to be child erotica” as well as “file names indicative of child pornography,” officials said.

In a toilet, deputies found a USB drive. A forensic analysis of the device uncovered more than 30 images depicting the sexual exploitation of a child, according to court records.

A judge on Friday ordered Ford held on a bail of $630,000 and barred him from having contact with anyone under 18 years old, any school or any daycare, court records show. He’s scheduled to make an appearance in court next month.

Cox Media Group