A substitute teacher in Maryland altered pornographic images by replacing faces with those of students, Howard County police said Friday.
Jeremy Sykes, who worked as a long-term substitute teacher at Folly Quarter Middle School in Ellicott City from October until January, was arrested in January and charged with possession of child pornography after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told Howard County police uploads of child pornography had been traced to the same user on computers at his home and in the county public school system, police said.
Following that arrest, investigators searched Sykes’ home and took several electronic devices, police said. They found 50 images of child and adult pornography with the subjects’ faces replaced with yearbook pictures of 18 teenage girls, including 14 Folly Quarter students. Sykes knew the other four outside of teaching, police said.
The 43-year-old was arrested again Friday at his Columbia home and charged with 50 counts of production of child pornography and 14 counts of sexual abuse of a minor, police said.
There’s no evidence of anyone other than Sykes gaining access to the pictures, police said.
Police contacted the parents or guardians of the 18 girls.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Sykes was banned in January from entering any school system property, police said.
