PHOENIX -- The Coolidge Unified School District's governing board has fired a teacher amid a criminal investigation into allegations that he downloaded child pornography to his home computer.
The board voted to terminate the district's contract with Coolidge High School computer and career education teacher Alfonso Padilla.
The 36-year-old Padilla had been on paid administrative leave after Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies arrested him late last month at the high school.
The sheriff's office alleges that deputies found more than 50 pornographic images on Padilla's personal computer at his Queen Creek home and many of images were of children younger than age 13.
Authorities say Padilla also is the target of a professional misconduct investigation by the state Board of Education into allegations that he downloaded adult pornography while working for the Higley Unified School District in Gilbert last year.
