TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Polk Principal's Child Porn Charges May Not Stick

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK DOUGLAS, News Channel 8

Published: December 25, 2007

A Tampa Bay area legal expert says charges of child pornography may not stick to a Lakeland school principal.

Scott Lake Elementary Principal John Stelmack, 60, was arrested on five counts of possession of child pornography last week. Four copies of a picture of naked women with the head a 10-year-old girl superimposed on them were found inside Stelmack's briefcase, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. The girl was a Scott Lake Elementary student.

   John Stelmack

"I think allegations like that are somewhat disturbing from a person in that position," lawyer Luke Lirot said. However, the images are not child pornography because of a Supreme Court ruling about virtual images, he said.

"I don't think those images would meet the legal definition of child pornography if indeed the anatomical areas are those of an adult with simply a child's face morphed onto them," said Lirot, who is not involved in the case.

Stelmack was suspended with pay a week before the arrest. The Polk County School District had begun an investigation into his conduct around students, Judd said.

There was no indication the student was harmed by Stelmack, Judd said. The photo was from an innocent picture of her. She now is a sixth-grader at an area middle school.

Deputies recovered another adult-child picture, but the superimposed face is not thought to be of a local girl, Judd said.

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. The 2006-07 school year was his first at Scott Lake.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT