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Principal Faces Porn Charges

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By BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

Updated: 12/21/2007 01:00 pm

BARTOW - A Polk County elementary school principal was arrested Friday after investigators found him in possession of pictures that electronically superimposed faces of young girls onto images of bodies of childlike naked women, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

At least one of the two girls whose faces were used was a former student at Scott Lake Elementary, the principal's school, Judd said in an afternoon news conference.

John Stelmack, 60, faces five counts of possessing child pornography. Judd said, however, that evidence indicates Stelmack photographed the young girls innocently and then digitally manipulated the images to create illegal child pornography.

Though the investigation is ongoing, Judd said there's no evidence the girls were harmed or were aware in any way that their pictures were being used to make pornography. The case against Stelmack may be complicated by a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal law banning computer-generated child pornography that did not involve real children.

Stelmack was arrested Friday morning at his home at 5749 Deer Track Trail in Lakeland, Judd said.

The Stelmack case was referred to the sheriff's office Wednesday by Polk school district investigators, who found the images inside a black briefcase while searching Stelmack's office at Scott Lake, school and law enforcement officials said.

The school district had been investigating Stelmack since last Friday, when he was suspended with pay.

The inquiry started after faculty members at the school expressed concerns about the level of affection Stelmack showed toward some students, said Ron Ciranna, assistant superintendent for human resources.

Polk Superintendent Gail McKinzie is on vacation and was not available for comment. She did not release any statement on the arrest.

The school district investigation is ongoing, as is the criminal investigation, but Stelmack has not been charged with any crime relating to specific behavior toward students or children.

The school district's investigation will not become public record until 10 days after its completion. Until then, Stelmack is on paid leave.

He was hired at Scott Lake just prior to the 2006-07 school year. His current salary is $81,379 per year.

2 Girls Involved

Judd said deputies have identified one of the two girls whose faces were used in the manipulated photos, and her parents have been notified.

Judd said he does not think it will be necessary for the girl, now a sixth-grader at a Lakeland area middle school, to testify or have a broad role in prosecuting Stelmack.

"There's no reason to upset the little girl to make this case," Judd said.

There were four copies of the Scott Lake girl's manipulated picture found in the briefcase and one copy of the other girl's photo. All five appeared to be computer printouts or copies of computer printouts, Judd said.

The second girl has not been identified, but Judd said a date found on the photo suggests that it was made while Stelmack was in New York, where he worked as an educator for more than 20 years before leaving in 2006, according to his resume.

In his last job there, Stelmack was principal at Ellicott Road Elementary in the Orchard Park Central School District, his resume says.

Stelmack is married and has two adult children, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said. He came to Polk County from the New York state school system.

Detectives searching Stelmack's home Friday seized his laptop and home computer. They found a digital version of the printed photo involving the Scott Lake girl, Rodgers said. Several other images found on the computers could be considered child pornography, Rodgers said, but no further charges have been announced.

Prosecution May Be Tough

When searching Stelmack's briefcase, district investigators also found photos of what appeared to be naked young women presented in such a way as to suggest they were children, Judd said.

Those pictures did not rise to the level of criminal pornography, Judd said. The pictures involving the faces of the two young girls do reach that level, however, he said.

Judd said his investigators had worked closely with the Polk state attorney's office, which has aggressively pursued pornography-related cases in the past, in deciding to arrest Stelmack.

In 2002, however, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law against computer-generated child pornography that did not involve real children.

Rita Peters, chief of the sex offenses division of the Hillsborough County state attorney's office, said her office has interpreted that decision as permitting superimposed images like those Stelmack is accused of creating.

"The court wants it to be a real child because that's who they're trying to protect," Peters said.

She said, however, that the case doesn't specifically permit superimposed images and that she's intrigued by the decision to arrest and charge Stelmack.

"I'll be watching this one," she said.

Judd could not immediately point to another case where a person had been successfully prosecuted under similar circumstances.

He said he was confident, though, that the case could be made.

"It's our goal to send this principal to the state prison system," he said.

Background Records Incomplete

A criminal background check conducted by the school district on Stelmack revealed only a 1986 arrest for drunken driving. The charge later was reduced to reckless driving.

Ciranna, head of the school district's human resources, said the district hired Stelmack without receiving his full personnel records from New York.

It was a mistake that violated school district policy, which is to review all such records prior to hiring a principal, Ciranna said.

New York requires an employee to sign a release form before personnel records can be turned over for examination, Ciranna said.

Several months ago, before the investigation, Ciranna said the district discovered that it never had seen Stelmack's New York records because he'd never signed a release form.

The school district obtained a release form and requested Stelmack's records, though not all have yet arrived. There's nothing so far to suggest wrongdoing like that he's accused of at Scott Lake, Ciranna said.

At the end of his first year, Stelmack received a satisfactory rating on his performance evaluation. That's the middle of five levels of performance the district assigns.

"This has been a learning year for Mr. Stelmack, who is new to Florida and Polk County schools," his supervisor wrote. "He has had to deal with some unique situations."

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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