Mount Scopus teacher charged over child porn
A current Mount Scopus teacher has been charged by Victoria Police after inappropriate pornographic material was allegedly uncovered by his former employer, Bialik College.
Police have confirmed to The AJN that a 52-year-old man from Noble Park has been charged with Make/Produce Child Porn and Posses Child Pornography.
“Box Hill Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) detectives have charged a man following an investigation into child pornography and upskirting incidents at an Eastern suburbs school.
“It is alleged the incidents took place between 2014 and 2017,” Police told The AJN.
Mount Scopus said in a letter to parents that the staff member “has already been suspended”.
At the same time, Bialik wrote to parents, staff and alumni today, the material “appears to relate to the time of the teacher’s employment at Bialik”.
The letter, which was co-signed by principal Bialik Jeremy Stowe-Linder and president Kate Beaconsfield, went on to say that the school’s IT department recovered a portable hard-drive that had been locked away in storage since the teacher left, but it was “restored and audited” last week.
“Upon discovery of the material, we immediately notified Victoria Police, the Victorian Institute of Teaching and the teacher’s current employer,” the letter said.
The allegations did not include any “contact offences” and the person is not an ongoing risk to Bialik students.
“The students (at Bialik) taught by the teacher were in Middle and Senior Schools.”
Both schools said they are taking advice from, and fully cooperating with, Victoria Police.
The man has been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on 10 August.
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