A Baltimore City school teacher was charged with possession of child pornography this week after police say he allegedly downloaded and shared numerous videos and photographs of prepubescent girls between 6 and 9 years old, authorities said.
Frank Joseph Pugliese III, 43, of the 1200 block of Tugwell Drive in Catonsville, was charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography, police said. He has been released on bail.
Pugliese is a teacher at the Baltimore Monarch Academy, a public charter school, police said. They said he had also worked for 15 years at the Compass Academy in Arbutus, a school for special needs children.
Police said there is no evidence that the suspect had abused, photographed or recorded any children.
Pugliese first got on the police department’s radar in early August when detectives from the Crimes Against Children Unit conducted an online investigation of child pornography and found multiple images of online child pornography that were associated with the suspect’s IP address, police said.
Police said they conducted a search of Pugliese’s home on Sept. 1 and found evidence of deleted child pornography files.
–Watta Camara