Brighton teacher Louis Carusone faces child pornography charges. What we know now
A Brighton High School physics teacher is facing federal charges and is accused of receiving and possession of child pornography.
Louis Carusone, 44, of Webster was charged in the Western District of New York with receipt and possession of child pornography, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Carusone first worked at Brighton High School in 2001 before he left to teach in Rush-Henrietta and East Irondequoit school districts, according to Brighton Central School District Superintendent Kevin McGowan. He returned to Brighton High School in 2015. Carusone also worked as Brighton's junior varsity golf coach since 2002 and was an assistant boys basketball coach in 2017 and 2018. He also advised the League of Brighton club in 2020.
Criminal complaint against Louis Carusone of Webster NY
According to the criminal complaint, Carusone is accused of sharing a video and images of child pornography in an online peer-to-peer file-sharing network on Oct. 10, which were downloaded by an undercover law enforcement officer. Several days later, the undercover officer downloaded additional files containing child pornography that were shared from Carusone’s IP address.
On Friday, investigators executed a search warrant at Carusone's Webster residence and seized seized a tablet, SD cards, a laptop, desktop computers and phones, according to the office.
A preliminary review of one seized cell phone recovered 11 videos that Carusone appeared to have recorded between mid-August and mid-October.
The complaint alleges that Carusone recorded and photographed female students in his classroom, and both minors and adults in public places, including at a water park where he allegedly recorded children and adults in bathing suits.
More than 2,000 images and 21 videos of child pornography were also recovered from his devices. Investigators do not believe any of the shared images or pornographic images seized were of Brighton students.
"This deplorable conduct still represents a dramatic invasion of student privacy and a violation of the trust put in all of us as caregivers at school," McGowan said in a letter to students and their families and staff. "This should never, ever have happened and we are so very sorry and angry that it did."
McGowan in the letter said that Carusone will not be returning to to the district "in any capacity, at any time." The district will also conduct an internal investigation.
After learning of the investigation from federal authorities last week, "we immediately placed Mr. Carusone on leave, froze his access to all electronic resources and directed him to not be anywhere near BCSD property or to have contact with anyone at BCSD other than those who he would need to discuss his employment status with," McGowan said. "We have worked closely with the law enforcement task force since last week and will continue to do so. We are actively pursuing Mr. Carusone’s immediate dismissal and the revocation of his teaching certificate."
McGowan also said that district officials learned that over the last few days, Carusone allegedly filmed several Brighton students in his classroom without their knowledge. The students, McGowan said, were not engaged in any inappropriate activity and were fully clothed as they went about their normal routines.
"Throughout Mr. Carusone’s career, there was never a report of questionable behavior or activity.," he said. "The District was never given any reason to suspect illegal and inappropriate behavior in any way."
Counseling available in Brighton schools
In-house counselors as well as employees from Bivona Child Advocacy Center will be on hand this week. Assemblies by grade level will take place and meetings with Carusone's students will be scheduled. A community-wide meeting on what occurred will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 in the Brighton High School auditorium.
Carusone appeared in federal court Thursday morning and was released on conditions, to include electronic monitoring, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. If convicted, he faces a minimum of five years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Anyone with information about Carusone or the investigation is asked to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation at (585) 279-0085.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Louis Carusone, Brighton High School teacher, faces child porn charges
