A New York City first grade teacher stockpiled a “sickening” trove of child pornography — and was busted after his own family taped him fessing up to the disgusting conduct, federal prosecutors alleged.
Christopher Ward, 37, allegedly used a messaging app to share the hundreds of repulsive photos and videos for at least a year, while teaching some of the Big Apple’s youngest pupils at a Queens public elementary school, the feds said.
“Every day, Christopher Ward stood at the front of a classroom of first graders while allegedly storing hundreds of images exploiting children just like them,” Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
Ward was already being probed for alleged child exploitation when his relatives in early September, recorded a conversation with him in which he admitted to receiving child porn videos and then sharing those clips at least 30 times, according to a criminal complaint.
The court docs make clear the loved ones conducted the sting “independently” and were not instructed to do so by authorities.
Ward also handed a relative his phone, which was then turned over to law enforcement, the complaint states.
A messaging app Ward allegedly used to share child porn was deleted from the phone, in what authorities determined was a possible bid to hide his crime, according to the complaint.
Ward taught at an Queens elementary school from last September until this month. The name of the school wasn’t immediately known.
Before that, he worked at a Manhattan school from January 2021 through June 2024, prosecutors said.
Ward lives with his parents in Farmingdale after leaving the home he shared with his spouse, his defense lawyer said in court Wednesday, according to Inner City Press.
“Mr. Ward was arraigned yesterday and entered a plea of not guilty. The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and Mr. Ward is presumed innocent,” his defense lawyer Daniel Russo told The Post in a statement Thursday.
Ward was being held behind bars pending his next court date Oct. 2.
He is charged with one count of receiving and distributing child porn and one count of possessing child porn, including images of prepubescent minors and minors who were younger than 12 years old.
Each of the counts carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The city Department of Education did not immediately have a comment on Ward’s arrest.
“When we send our children to school every day, we trust that they will be cared for and protected by their teachers. Instead, Christopher Ward made every parent’s worst nightmare a reality,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
“These allegations are as sickening as they are illegal, and there is absolutely zero tolerance for anyone who exploits our most innocent in this way.”
Read the full article here
