Middle School Teacher Arrested On Child Porn Charges
A Virginia teacher was arrested after authorities received a tip she had child porn on her devices, leading a trend among female educators.
Child pornography is becoming a major issue. Thanks to the internet, this form of sexual abuse has erupted over the past decade, increasing offenses by over 200%. But what might be even more disturbing is the intensifying rate at which educators are being caught up in such cases. In the most recent one, a Virginia teacher was arrested last week for charges related to child pornography.
According to reports from NBC Washington, an eighth-grade science teacher at a middle school in Fairfax County was charged with two felonies for her possession of child pornography. The 28-year-old Virginia teacher taught at Irving Middle School in Springfield, Virginia. Before that, she had been a teacher at Key Middle School in Franconia. Her reason for departing her job at the previous school is unknown.
Leading up to the Virginia teacher’s arrest, the Fairfax County Police Department had received a tip-off of potential wrongdoing. They received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Giving authorities the IP address leading to a home in Fairfax County, authorities found that the one and only resident living at the address was the science teacher.
After serving the Virginia teacher with a search warrant, police were able to uncover child sex abuse material on Knizner’s electronic devices linked to her Snapchat account. She was arrested on Wednesday, May 18th. Inanely, the court set her bail at a mere $2,000 bond, which she posted. She now is free until her court appearance which is scheduled late in July.
After her arrest, the middle school at which the Virginia teacher taught sent out an email to families notifying them of what happened. Within the statement, school leaders announced that the teacher is still an employee with the district, and notified them that she is on leave. They did not mention whether or not this is a paid leave of absence. Furthermore, the school announced that officials had found no evidence linking her crimes to any students at the school.
Ed O’Carroll, the police department’s head major, spoke of how concerning the issue of child sexual abuse and online pornography is becoming within his jurisdiction. In a social media message shared on Twitter, he announced that this marks the 124th tip that detectives have received solely in the past four months. Likewise, the Virginia teacher shows a shocking trend being seen in similar cases, where female educators are found to be the perpetrator of these sex crimes.
There is very little data depicting the data on public school sex crimes in the United States. However, some research sheds light on this growing phenomenon. In the UK, reports of females acting out sexual abuse against minors rose 84% between 2015 and 2019. Similarly, the Doan Law firm released a report in 2020 detailing findings signifying that female perpetrators, like this Virginia teacher, have long been underreported, or even covered up.
It might just be a coincidence, or it possibly could hint at a growing problem being found among female predators. Still, overall it’s alarming to many parents to see just how dire the situation has become. The Virginia teacher is another tally to add to the growing plethora of child abuse cases being documented this year alone, and it might just make 2022 a tragically historic year for these cases. Teachers like this are part of the plethora of reasons why so many parents are opting out of public school.
