DALLAS — A former teacher at Dallas' Hockaday School faces a felony charge of receipt of child pornography.
Jason Baldwin, 28, was a lead teacher at the school's Child Development Center and had worked for the school since 2014, the school said. The school, which is a girls' college-prep day and boarding school, fired him on Aug. 3.
The school said no current or former students were involved in the complaint that led to his arrest and there are no allegations of in-person misconduct.
A search warrant was executed on July 29 at Baldwin’s apartment in Dallas, where investigators found child pornography on his iPhone X, according to an affidavit.
He admitted to investigators that he paid for the files and told investigators that they would find hundreds of images and videos on two cell phones he had in his apartment.
Baldwin told investigators that he has been viewing child pornography for approximately eight years.
An FBI investigation into a man in Philadelphia who sold child pornography led investigators to people who had purchased the images and videos to, including Baldwin, the affidavit said.
“Baldwin admitted he has an addiction to child pornography and told investigators this is not something he could share with his friends,” the documents said.
Baldwin purchased files at various times between October 2019 and January 2020.
Baldwin reached out to the Philadelphia man multiple times through the messenger app Kik to purchase videos and images. Baldwin found the man through Twitter and Tumblr, the affidavit said.
Investigators traced Baldwin’s Kik username back to his Yahoo email address and IP addresses.
A felony of receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum term of five years imprisonment and a maximum term of 20 years.
The school sent an email to the community on July 31 saying they had conducted criminal and sex offender background checks on Baldwin repeatedly during his employment.
"We are tremendously saddened by these allegations about a member of our community. We are grateful to those of you who have chosen to be part of the CDC community," the school said in the letter. "Please know that our highest priority is providing quality care and instruction in a safe, secure, and nurturing environment."
In a letter sent on Aug. 7, the school said, in part, "A few of you expressed concern about some of Mr. Baldwin’s social media posts. We have worked with the FBI and secured removal of these posts. We will also be reiterating to all employees that Hockaday prohibits any personal social media posts involving Hockaday students and children in our programs, as one part of our comprehensive in-service, faculty and staff training later this month."
