Pennsbury teacher on leave after arrest on felony child porn charges. What we know
A Pennsbury School District music teacher is facing felony charges after authorities say they found more than 2,000 images and videos depicting child pornography on his cell phone and an Amazon photo account linked to his school district email.
Christopher Bygott, 47, of Hamilton, New Jersey, surrendered to authorities Tuesday morning. He was arraigned on charges of possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility and released on $250,000 unsecured bail and ordered to surrender his passport and not use the internet.
Bygott is a curriculum coordinator for instrumental music. He has worked for the district for 20 years and worked in several schools during that time, most recently at the Pennbury high schools, according to a district spokeswoman.
Is an A-list actor moving to Bucks? Could your new Bucks County neighbor be heartthrob actor Bradley Cooper? We'll see.
Bygott was placed on unpaid administrative leave. He also has been banned from district properties and district activities, and has been instructed not to communicate with any district staff, students, or families, according to a community notification sent out on Tuesday morning announcing the arrest.
The district will be conducting a full investigation, the notice said.
The Bucks County Detectives opened an investigation earlier this month after two tips were submitted to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, according to a press release from the DA’s office.
The CyberTips were linked to an IP address, which was used to upload the Child Sex Abuse Materials files into an Amazon Photos account. Bucks County Detectives received subscriber information from Amazon.com Inc., which identified the subscriber as Bygott.
The IP address was linked to the Pennsbury School District, according to the DA’s office. During their investigation, Bucks County Detectives learned that Bygott is employed by the school district.
On Dec. 13, Bucks County Detectives interviewed Bygott at the Pennsbury High School East campus. During the interview, Bygott admitted that he was "sick," and "had a problem," according to a probable cause affidavit.
Bygott also admitted that his phone would contain "numerous" fioled containing child pornography, the affidavit said.
"When asked for a quantity and offered numbers of 10, 100, 500, Bygott replied that there would be more than those numbers located on the device," the affidavit said.
A forensic examination of his cellphone led to the discovery of 2,000 images and videos of Child Sex Abuse Materials that depicted sexual acts with children of various ages.ythe DA's office said. The images involved children ranging in age from infant to pubescent females.
In its community notification, Pennsbury noted that law enforcement does not believe that district students were involved in these alleged activities.
“Like every individual we hire, the individual in question has had active and fully cleared PA Child Abuse, PA Criminal History, FBI Criminal Background History, and all other required clearances on file with the district at all times during employment,” the district notice said.
More Bucks County news Fourth inmate death in Bucks County jail. What we know about the one from last month.
More: Bucks County crime news Bucks County DA believes Bristol man sexually exploited at least 5 more children.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Pennsbury promises investigation after arrest of teacher for child porn
