@crimeatyourfingertips: A former Florida teacher is going to prison for possessing more than 700 images of child SA material. Shawn Christopher Fitzgerald, 49, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, investigators got a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children showing that a user on the KIK messenger app uploaded a video of child SA material on Feb. 20, 2020. The footage showed a man SA a girl, who was approximately 10 to 12 years of age, authorities said. Investigators tracked the KIK user to Fitzgerald’s home in Lakeland. Fitzgerald told investigators that the email address linked to the KIK account was his old one. He admitted using the app in the past and that he saw child SA material there in the messaging groups. Fitzgerald, however, said he only went to KIK to look for adult p0rn & that he never looked for child SA material or uploaded it to any social media platform. But when Fitzgerald let authorities look at his cellphone, they found a “Calculator Vault” application, which was used to hide data. The defendant claimed he used it in the past to store photos from his extramarital affair. Investigators, however, took a forensic look at his device & found hundreds of illicit materials in which adults SA boys & girls. The investigation revealed that Fitzgerald possessed more than 700 pictures & videos of children, as young as infants, being SA by adults or s3xually exploited. Deputies said that Fitzgerald taught at Lakeland High School & also served as a teacher there. He also was Youth Director at First United Methodist Church in the city of Bartow. Forensic analysis of his cellphone showed he routinely viewed child SA material during his daily life, including while teaching, being a youth minister, coaching & going on field trips. “An arrest like this shakes the entire community,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at the time of the arrest in November 2020. “A man entrusted with the education & guidance of so many children, working closely with them & betraying that trust in such a heinous way. Sadly, people who possess child p0rnography are out there, all over the world. But making these kinds of arrests are not rare in Polk County, due to the diligent work of the PCSO Computer Crimes Unit.” Jail records show that Fitzgerald was locked up again on Thursday at the Polk County Jail; authorities are holding him for the prison system. His attorney of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment. Kyle Kennedy, a spokesman for Polk County Public Schools, said on Monday that he can confirm that Fitzgerald no longer works for the school district. “We appreciate the work of law enforcement in bringing this case to justice,” he wrote in an email. “Our schools & community, deserve to be kept safe from individuals who engage in this kind of behavior.” #crimejunkie #crimejunkies #crimestories #crimetiktoker #truecrimetiktok #truecrimecommunity #crimetiktok #crimetok #truecrimetok #crimetiktoks #truecrime #truecrimetiktoker

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Tuesday 12 September 2023 19:32:22 GMT