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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Former assistant principal at Spokane Public Schools under investigation for child pornography

The Spokane Public Schools administrative building in downtown Spokane, as pictured in January 2017. On Thursday, May 29, 2019 the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office filed a search warrant detailing an investigation into a former assistant principal accused of possessing child pornography. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

A former assistant principal at a Spokane elementary school is suspected of sending and receiving nude photos from a Craigslist user who identified themselves as a 15-year-old girl.

The man reportedly resigned on May 14 – seven days after he self-reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He had been away from work on sick time for several days between May 6 and 13, Detective Nathan Bohanek at the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a search warrant filed Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

Brian Coddington, spokesman for Spokane Public Schools, confirmed Wednesday that the administrator resigned on May 14. He has not been arrested or charged.

Records say he posted an ad on Craigslist in February offering to “treat someone 18 years of age or older to shopping.” He got a response from someone who identified themselves as an 18-year-old girl.

According to the NCMEC report referenced in Bohanek’s warrant, the girl sent him nude images of a “child that appeared to be 15 years old.” In return, the man sent nude photos of himself, including his face and “entire body unclothed.”

Detectives later learned from the man’s wife that the assistant principal exchanged the photos after the Craigslist user identified themselves as being 15 years old.

The man reported his interactions to the NCMEC on May 7 at the behest of his pastor after he said the girl requested nude photos of his daughters, records say. He refused, which is when the person “became aggressive” and “threatened to notify the authorities if he did not comply.”

His wife told detectives he admittedly sent a cropped family photo showing his two daughters, in addition to pictures of their underwear.

That same day, the man’s pastor sent an email to NCMEC reporting the behavior and attempted blackmail.

“Obviously a scam attempt,” the pastor wrote, according to court records. “But he admitted to the illegal action.”

Another administrator at a Spokane elementary school told detectives she became aware of the incident on May 8 after a late-night phone call with her co-worker. She told Bohanek the man said he’d been “connecting” online with the girl for several months, but he now believes she’s a man.

Detectives tracked a phone number associated with the alleged victim to an Idaho area code, including a number used by someone claiming to be the girl’s mom who threatened to send him to jail.

Both numbers were tracked to a company that sells phone numbers to providers such as Google, which then assigns them to an end user.

On Tuesday, the man’s iPhone was searched after it was handed over by his pastor.