MCSO: Coolidge teacher caught with child porn on computer
COOLIDGE, AZ -- Authorities have arrested a Coolidge High School teacher after finding child pornography on his personal computer.
Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies say 36-year-old Alfonso Padilla was taken into custody Thursday night at Coolidge High where he's a computer teacher.
They say Padilla was arrested on probable cause of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and is being held in the Maricopa County Jail on $63,000 bond.
Deputies reportedly received Padilla's computer hard drive from his wife's attorney during divorce proceedings.
Upon the execution of a search warrant of the hard drive, deputies confirmed there were more than 50 sexually graphic images of children under the age of 13.
During an interview with deputies, they say Padilla admitted that he had been fired from Higley High School approximately three years ago for inappropriate conduct with a minor through the use of a computer.
Cecilia Johnson, Chief Administrative Officer of the Coolidge Unifed School District, said that Padilla hadn't been at the school very long; he was hired in August.
"Yes we did a background check on him, we looked at his previous employment and none of that information was revealed to us," she said Friday night.
ABC15 contact Higley High School to confirm what MCSO said Padilla told them.
Higley High referred us to the district where ABC15 left a voicemail message for its superintendent Denise Birdwell and Sara Bresnahan, who was identified as their media contact, but our phone calls were not returned.ABC15 also left a voicemail on what is believed to be Padilla's cell phone.On Friday night he was still in jail.
ABC15 stopped by an address in Queen Creek, which Padilla owns, but is currently occupied by tenants.
ABC15 also visited a home in Gilbert that Padilla listed as his residence on booking documents but no one was home when we stopped by around 8pm Friday night.
Someone who said they know Padilla expressed concern about the allegations because they told ABC15 he has two young girls.
MCSO was unable to confirm if Padilla has any children.
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