Shawn Fitzgerald, a 46-year-old Florida high school teacher, soccer coach, and church youth leader, has been charged with 408 counts of child pornography possession. Fitzgerald has taught and coached the boy’s soccer team at Lakeland High School since 2014. He was also the youth director at First United Methodist Church in Bartow.
What We Know:
- Investigators were given a tip from the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children, which lead them to find multiple pornographic images on his cell phone.
- The images were reportedly hidden in a fake calculator app that also acted as a vault to conceal explicit content.
- Polk County Sherriff Grady Judd said in a news conference the images found didn’t seem to be locally produced, and it does not appear that Fitzgerald harmed any children himself. But, Judd mentioned more charges might be pending.
- Amongst the images was a young child proposed to be 10 months old child being sexually abused by adults and engaging in provocative acts with other minors.
- In a statement with a CBS affiliate, Lakewood High Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd stated, “We are shocked and disgusted by these charges.”
“As educators, we are entrusted with the well-being of our young people every day. It is our sacred duty to set the highest moral example in our schools and our communities. … We are cooperating fully with the investigation to ensure justice is served, and we are in the process of terminating this employee.”
As of Sunday, it is unclear if Fitzgerald sought legal representation. He is currently being held at Polk County Jail and is being held on a $2 million bail.
