Ark. teacher’s assistant pleads guilty to producing child porn in classroom
12/28/2022 12:47 pm PST
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (TCD) -- A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty this week to producing child pornography, including videos created in the classroom where he worked.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced Augustus "Gus" Shenker entered the plea for three counts of production of child pornography Tuesday, Dec. 27, in district court. He was arrested in May 2021 and indicted the next month.
He was initially charged with 22 counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in May 2021, the FBI received a tip that Shenker uploaded seven videos to Dropbox that contained child pornography. He reportedly used an email with his name in it to create the Dropbox profile as well.
Investigators learned Shenker worked at Miss Selma’s School, an early education school in Little Rock for children from 18 months old to fifth grade. FBI agents searched his home and spoke with him at the school, where they took his iPhone and interviewed him. Shenker reportedly told agents he "used to have a problem with child pornography several years ago but no longer viewed child pornography."
Shenker reportedly admitted that the Dropbox account with the videos was, in fact, his own.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said investigators seized evidence from Shenker’s home, including six videos from March 2021 that were reportedly taken in a classroom at Miss Selma’s School. The videos reportedly showed Shenker touching a preschool child’s buttocks and vagina. He also had 19 videos in a hidden folder on his iPhone and over 1,000 pictures portraying child sexual abuse.
According to the statement, "Shenker’s face is visible in several of the videos."
All the videos were reportedly taken in the preschool classroom.
Shenker has reportedly been a teacher’s assistant at the school since 2017.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
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