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Clearwater Middle School Teacher Faces Child Porn Charges

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TBO.com

Published: July 31, 2008

Updated: 07/31/2008 04:14 pm

State investigators arrested a Clearwater teacher today, accusing him of having pornographic photos and videos of children on his home computer.

Agents with the state attorney general's CyberCrime Unit in Tampa arrested Aaron J. Stewart, 28, after searching his Clearwater home, said Chuck McMullen, chief of law enforcement for the attorney general's office.

Stewart admitted to the agents that he had downloaded a total of eight photos and videos depicting children as young as 6 engaged in sex acts, McMullen said. A thorough forensic analysis of his computer is under way.

Stewart was held on $180,000 bail at the Pinellas County Jail today, charged with multiple counts of possession of child pornography.

Stewart was expected to start at Clearwater Intermediate Middle School as a music teacher Aug. 11, Pinellas County school district spokeswoman Andrea Zahn said. He will be placed on administrative leave at that point, and his future employment will depend upon the status of the investigation, she said.

The school district hired Stewart in August 2007 as a music teacher, Zahn said. He worked last school year at the elementary level, she said.

McMullen said investigators do not think Stewart produced the images, just downloaded them. "We don't have any indication these were local children," he said.

Maureen Horkan, director of the state's CyberCrime Unit, said the images involve boys and girls, some of them known victims from other cases.

Investigators found him while working undercover online; they intercepted one of the images he downloaded and traced it back to him, McMullen said.

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