A Fort Worth middle school teacher is being placed on leave after being charged with child exploitation by the Department of Justice.
According to Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Stephen Travis Corkill, an 35-year-old 7th grade teacher at Marine Creek Middle School in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District, was charged with "transporting a depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct via interstate commerce."
Investigators said he was sharing a pornographic photo of a young girl on Kik, a messaging app popluar with teenagers, with a hashtag associated with child pornography.
Kik flagged the image, verified the content and reported it to the authorities. The DOJ said investigators then, "subpoenaed the subscriber information for the IP address associated with the upload, and traced it back to Mr. Corkill."
Officials searched Corkill's residence and found an iPhone with Kik installed. Corkill then, according to the DOJ, said he was the owner of the Kik account and used it to view child pornography.
Officials with the EMSISD told NBC 5 on Wednesday that, "The District has not been contacted about this investigation or arrest until hearing from reporters today. We are reaching out to local authorities and [are] placing the employee on leave pending results of the investigation."
School has not been in session for several weeks due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and is expected to remain closed until at least May 4 upon an executive order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Saleem is prosecuting the case. It's not clear when Corkill's trial will begin. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Flower Mound Police Department, Fort Worth Police Department, and Cedar Hill Police Department.
