HSI arrests former Ga. school teacher for child pornography

ATLANTA – A former Georgia middle school teacher has been arrested for accessing with intent to view child pornography by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

William Kimbrell, 27, of Covington, was indicted by a federal grand jury March 18.

"This now-former middle school teacher has been indicted on child pornography charges," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. "Through the vigilance of our law enforcement partners, this defendant is no longer teaching, and will face the consequences of his actions."

"Consumers of child pornography create a demand for the sexual exploitation of children that has resulted in an explosion of abuse across the United States," said Special Agent in Charge Brock D. Nicholson of HSI Atlanta. "No matter how cleverly a suspect may think he has covered his tracks by deleting or encrypting illegal photos and videos, our special agents and computer forensic analysts are highly trained and skilled at finding the evidence of their crimes."

According to the indictment, a sheriff's office detective in southern Georgia found that a person at an apartment complex in Statesboro was distributing child pornography in October 2012. In late December 2012 and continuing into January 2013, this same person was still offering child pornography for distribution, but this time the computer’s Internet protocol address came back to a residence in Covington.

When special agents with HSI learned of the offense this year, they identified the subject as William Kimbrell, and obtained federal search warrants for his home in Covington. At that time, Kimbrell was working as a middle school teacher in Barrow County. When special agents executed the search warrants, they found that Kimbrell had deleted the bulk of the child pornography on his computer. An HSI computer forensics analyst, however, was able to find remnants of files on the computer and was able to determine that Kimbrell had accessed child pornography on the Internet from October to December 2013, which includes the period that he was working as a teacher. Kimbrell resigned from his position as a middle school teacher on March 17.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Assistant United States Attorney Paul R. Jones is prosecuting the case.