AISD teacher faces child porn charges

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A former teacher at Austin Independent School District's Barrington Elementary School has been charged with possession of child pornography.

Bradford Case, 57, was arrested earlier this week after an employee at a drug store made a startling discovery. 

According to an arrest affidavit, Case dropped off a CD at a Walgreen's in the 12500 block of Metric Boulevard to have pictures developed. The Walgreen's employee contacted the Austin Police Department when she noticed there were images of boys she felt were inappropriate because Case was a school teacher.

When detectives interviewed Case at his school, he said he initially took the pictures of the boys for a project for his students but later indicated they were for his own personal use. Case said some of the images were of his students and others were of children he did not know. In some of the pictures wherein the boys were looking away, Case told police the boys did not know he was taking their pictures, nor did he notify their parents, according to the arrest affidavit.

Case allegedly told police he took the photos with a Nikon Coolpix camera. He told police he looked at the photos "daily" and that he was "emotionally attracted" to boys and saw them as "walking pieces of art," according to the affidavit.

In addition, according to the affidavit, Case had many pictures of boys younger than 18 -- some pictures were pasted to larger pieces of paper and hand-written notes referring to the boys as "cute."

During a search of Case's bedroom, investigators found posters of young boys as well as binders containing original photos, some of which were of boys urinating.

According to AISD, Case started with the district in 1995 as a substitute teacher. In 2008, he started at Barrington where he taught fifth grade for two years. In 2010, he started teaching fourth grade.

An AISD spokesperson said Case was recently placed on administrative leave with pay, but he ended up resigning a short time later.

The principal of the school sent a letter home to parents on Tuesday letting them know that the teacher might have been involved in inappropriate behavior.

Case posted $50,000 bond on Wednesday.