An assistant principal at Greenville Elementary School in Nokesville, Va., was arrested Wednesday for allegedly possessing and distributing child pornography.
Joshua Paul Myers, 29, was arrested at his home in Warrenton, Va., after a search of his residence.
He has been suspended from his job without pay, Fauqier County Superintendent Jonathan Lewis told NBC Washington.
Myers was identified through an undercover investigation of peer-to-peer file (P2P) sharing software, according to an affidavit provided to NBC Washington.
An special agent with the FBI, who was working online from Illinois, saw folders on a P2P network that indicated they contained child pornography.
The folders were password-protected, but the undercover agent contacted Myers and asked for the password. Myers allegedly gave it to him. The folders contained pornographic videos involving children as young as two years old, according to the affidavit.
Myers also allegedly told the agent that he had previously gone to California to have sex with a child, and had had sexual contact with children between the ages of nine and 14.
Authorities sent a subpoena to the P2P user's cable provider, who identified the account as being registered to Myers.
When authorities went to search Myers' residence, the affidavit states, Myers admitted to having communicated with the undercover agent. He also admitted he had child pornography on a flash drive in his car, and on a work-issued laptop at Greenville Elementary School.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Myers has a three-year-old son who was present when the police arrived Wednesday. A babysitter then brought the boy to his mother's home.
Myers had started as a teacher in 2004 at another school before becoming assistant principal at Greenville Elementary School in 2008. Greenville, located southwest of Manassas in Fauquier County, educates students from kindergarten to fifth grade. Classes let out for the year last Friday.
However, he had just been promoted to principal of Brumfield Elementary School in Warrenton, Va., effective July 1, 2011.
