Cited: Daily News

According to the feds on August 13, a prep school teacher was accused of the possession of kiddie porn. Apparently, a massive amount was discovered on his computer during the investigation as well as 43 CDs with illicit pictures and videos of children engaged in sexual acts with in the home of a 28-year-old teachers, John E. Thomas, Harlem home.

He was to begin teaching Fifth Grade at the Bank Street School for Children in the fall; he had taught for the past three years at Horace Mann and Friend’s Seminary before that.

He’s been a camp counselor at the prestigious 92nd Street Y this summer and had clothed snapshots of children at his camp on his computer. The porn featured children around the same ages of those he taught and counseled. Parents of kids at the camp were horrified.

“It’s awful!” said Yessenia Matos, 34, as she picked up her 9-year-old daughter. “There’s a lot of sick people out there…. It’s so scary.”

Thomas was charged in Manhattan federal court with possessing child porn and released on $50,000 bail. He is also accused of swapping images with others.

Thomas appeared in court wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue shorts and was surrounded by friends and relatives, including his mother.

“This is not him. He has never been in trouble before,” said a pal who declined to give her name.

Prosecutors argued that Thomas should submit to electronic monitoring to make sure he stays away from kids.

“There are kids everywhere and it’s to keep him away from kids,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Bauer. “The danger here is not just his employment, there are playgrounds everywhere.”

Thomas’ lawyer Michael Hurwitz stressed that his client had never been accused of molesting children.

“Mr. Thomas has been a teacher for five years and there have been no allegations of acts like this,” he said. “The charges are severe indeed but they are limited to viewing.”

Judge Gabriel Gorenstein rejected the request for monitoring, but ordered that Thomas “avoid anywhere where children congregate.”

In a statement from the 92nd Street Y school, a spokeswoman stated that they conduct background checks and evaluate all counselors every year.

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My Take: I hope that this is one of those cases where the teacher was actually trying to catch perverts to protect his students. However, from the news reports, it doesn’t look too good for the teacher. Maybe teachers should pass some kind of a psychological exam to find out if they have is types of tendencies.

One thing is for sure, if the man is married, he will probably need a divorce attorney or a divorce lawyer. Not many marriages survive this type of charge. He will probably need bankruptcy attorneys before his case is over just so he can pay the attorneys fees. And if he goes through a divorce, he will probably need a collaborative lawyer to save some money for his attorney’s fees.

This is one of those legal situations that hit a person from all sides as it should. I would love to be a Los Angeles court reporter just to hear what his statement is about that kiddie porn on his computer. Los Angeles court reporting can be a very interesting job. The only problem with it is you can’t tell your friends about what you hear.

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