A former substitute teacher and basketball coach in Prince George's County has pleaded guilty to charges he produced child pornography.
Christopher Speights was previously indicted in July 2017 by a federal jury on three counts of production and attempted production of child pornography. He was later indicted on an additional three counts of possession of child pornography with intent to distribute and six counts of possession of child pornography in Prince George's County.
Speights worked at Bradbury Heights Elementary School as a substitute teacher and as a coach for Prince George's County Public Schools for nine years. He was also a basketball coach for South County Sports Academy.
Prosecutors said Speights lured students to his home or victimized them during basketball road trips. Investigators and Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant at his home in April and found child pornography on Speights’ cellphone, laptop and iPad, police said.
Speights admitted to possessing child porn on the iPad and to filming some of the minors he coached while the minors were staying in North Carolina for a basketball team trip in March 2016, according to prosecutors.
Speights placed his backpack in the hotel room's bathroom, with his iPad recording from a hole in the outside pocket of the backpack. Speights recorded 11-year-old boys without their knowledge, prosecutors said.
More than 20 victims in total were identified, according to prosecutors. Speights directed the victims to perform certain acts, prosecutors previously said.
According to the plea agreement, law enforcement was further able to identify three different dates when Speights produced images of himself engaging in sexual contact with a boy.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children referred a tip about child pornography on a Dropbox account to state police Dec. 13, 2016.
Investigators tracked the Dropbox account, which had more than 100 images and videos of children engaged in sexual conduct with each other and with adults, to Speights’ Capitol Heights home, police said.
Speights faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled his sentencing for July 11.
