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Teacher's Aide Accused Of Making Kiddie Porn In School
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 7, 2012
Modified Feb 7, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 7, 2012
Modified Feb 7, 2012
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The FBI last night arrested PS 243 teacher's aide Taleek Brooks for the second time this month on child pornography charges. When Brooks was arrested the first time it was simply for having child pornography on his Brooklyn computer. The second arrest was because it appears that Brooks was producing child pornography, too. Did we mention he was making the videos in school?
According to the criminal complaint filed today:
between approximately January 2008 and January 2011, the defendant, in addition to downloading and sharing child pornography with others on the P2P file sharing program, was also producing child pornography. Among the videos and images that the defendant allegedly produced is a video of the defendant touching a child’s penis and a video of the defendant spanking a naked child. Both incidents appeared to have occurred in a school classroom.
According to the FBI, after he was arrested in January, Brooks "admitted to agents that he has been using a P2P file sharing program to download and share child pornography for approximately seven years, and that he has collected and saved over 1,000 digital files on his computers containing child pornography." He was promptly suspended by the city. Brooks has been working within the schools since 1995 and at 243, the Weeksville School, since 2001. The principal of the school, Karen Hambright-Glove, quickly sent a letter to parents saying the investigation is ongoing and asking for any information that might help the case.
Meanwhile Schools Chancellor Walcott quickly went to the school to play damage control. "My personal reaction is one of disgust on the part of this individual," he told reporters. "This case is a horrendous case, and it’s something that should not be tolerated." He also reiterated that, despite the FBI's reported video evidence, there was no indication that students at the school were being abused. Parents, meanwhile, seemed stunned by the news.
"I know Mr. Brooks," Michael Haskins, 31, told the Times. "We never had any problems out of him."
If found guilty of possession of child pornography, Brooks faces a maximum sentence of 10 years. Plus minimum another five for distribution and, if found guilty, minimum another 15 for production.
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