Former Rockville High School teacher arrested after he took pictures up students’ skirt and shorts in class, Vernon police say
A former Rockville High School teacher and golf coach was arrested Monday on child pornography and voyeurism charges after police learned he had hundreds of inappropriate pictures of children — including up-skirt and buttocks shots he took of students in his social studies class, police said.
Christian Stevenson, 52, of Vernon was arrested and taken into custody on charges of importing child pornography; second-degree illegal possession of child pornography; eight counts of voyeurism and four counts of voyeurism with a child under 16, they said. He also was charged with four counts of risk of injury to a minor and nine counts of disorderly conduct.
He is in custody on $300,000 bail, police said Monday.
Joseph Macary, superintendent of schools, said Stevenson was placed on administrative leave as soon as school officials learned about the investigation Sept. 15. He resigned the same day.
According to three arrest warrant affidavits, police were alerted in the summer by the state police that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had received a tip about exploitive content being transmitted in emails from a person in Connecticut. Police reviewed 48 images of young girls who were going through, or about to go through, puberty and were either nude or partially nude. Some pictures showed girls in suggestive poses, while others showed a girl being made to perform a sexual act. Nine images qualified as child pornography under Connecticut state statutes.
Investigators linked the images to Stevenson, who they learned was a longtime teacher at Rockville High School. He also coached varsity golf, the warrants said.
Some images were blatantly sexual and showed a girl being sexually abused. They originated in Moldova in eastern Europe and are from 2011, police learned. But investigators also came across many inappropriate pictures that were taken more recently — including hundreds that appeared to have been taken inside the high school, the warrants said.
After meeting with school officials, police were able to recognize two of the students who were the subject of inappropriate pictures, some taken in Stevenson’s classroom, they said.
Stevenson used his cellphone to take some photos up one of the students’ skirt, while focusing on her buttocks in others, one warrant said. The student, who was 15 at the time, had no idea the pictures were being taken.
When police interviewed the girl, she became “extremely distraught,” it said. She said she was devastated because she respected Stevenson so much.
Another warrant said Stevenson also took pictures of the buttocks of a girl wearing shorts. The girl, who was 17 at the time the pictures were taken, said she “still owned the shorts she was wearing in the photographs and now felt the need to burn them.”
Police continue to investigate the case and ask that anyone with information call Vernon Police Det. Thomas Van Tasel at 860-872-9126.
Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
