A Kentucky principal admitted that he seized the phones of students in order to get nude photos to be traded online. The principal has since been fired.
Pittsburgh's Action News reported that the principal was identified as 36-year-old Stephen Kyle Goodlett. He was indicted on Wednesday in Louisville. He was charged with possessing and transporting child pornography.
Goodlett worked as the principal of LaRue County High School and he told investigators that he has a pornography addiction. He noted that he searched the confiscated phones of students to look for nude photos.
Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Brady Oberholtzer was the one who interviewed the principal and wrote in the federal complaint the following admission. However, despite his admission, he pleaded not guilty to the 63 counts of state felony child porn charges last month.
According to Chicago Tribune, Goodlett was arrested from his home in October and was fired from his post by the school's superintendent, Sam Sanders, days after the arrest. Sanders called the incident an unprecedented situation while parents and staff said that it was shocking since he has a wife and also has children.
The investigation started in September last year. A 20-year-old old woman, who took nude photos for her boyfriend when she was only 15, found out that the photos were uploaded to a pornography trading website that is based in Russia. She then alerted authorities about the matter and an investigation ensued. An anonymous image board is used to post images online but they were able to track the IP address from where the image was uploaded. It was registered to Goodlett.
After a search warrant was made, 60 child pornography samples were recovered from the devices of Goodlett. Goodlett later admitted in a recorded interview that he transferred photos from the phones of the students to his thumb drive without their knowledge. One of the photos recovered from his devices was that of the woman who complained about her naked pictures being uploaded online.
