An assistant band director at a Pennsylvania high school was arrested and then fired after police said they found more than 100 files containing child pornography on his devices, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said in a Monday statement.
Stephen Gugoff, 39, was charged with 25 counts of disseminating child pornography and 50 counts of possessing child pornography, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said in a press release. He was arrested Sunday after investigators said they found the files depicting child sexual abuse stored on his home electronic devices.
Stephen Gugoff, 38, an assistant band director at Central Dauphin High School, was allegedly found to be in possession of hundreds of images of suspected child porn by investigators with the state attorney general’s office. https://t.co/nnnqpPNd4n
— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) June 14, 2021
He is also charged with one count of criminal use of a communication facility, according to Penn Live.
“The defendant was trusted by his students and community while he also privately exploited children,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in the statement.
Gugoff was a former assistant marching band director at Central Dauphin High School, which is located roughly 11 miles northeast of Harrisburg.
Police said they were led to Gugoff after his IP address was allegedly sharing files on a peer-to-peer sharing network, according to the Attorney General’s Office. The IP address was allegedly linked to Gugoff’s home. The investigation was led by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Investigators said they traced 428 files containing suspected child pornography were traced to Gugoff’s IP address, according to Fox 43.
The school district Gugoff worked at confirmed to CBS21 that Gugoff was an “extracurricular instructor who worked with high school students in the marching band,” and that he was terminated immediately after the charges were made.
The school added that they were not notified by police that any district students or property, such as electronic devices, were involved with the matter and that Gugoff had “all legal clearances” necessary to work with students before being charged.
Gugoff is being held at Dauphin County Prison on $100,000 bail, according to Penn Live.
Numerous teachers and other school staff have been charged with possessing child pornography and preying on children.
In April, a first-grade teacher in Dallas was charged with possession of child pornography after police say they found numerous images showing an adult male engaging in sexual intercourse with children as young as three. (RELATED: First-Grade Teacher At Texas Public School Charged With Possession Of Child Pornography)
Weeks later, a substitute teacher in Minnesota was arrested for allegedly “sextorting” children by pretending to be a girl on the internet and then threatening to expose sexually explicit photos.