Surprise music teacher arrested on charges of child pornography possession

Keith Armstrong, 65, a West Valley music teacher, was arrested at his home on May 25 on charges of having searched and downloaded child pornography multiple times.

According to court documents, a search warrant was served at Armstrong's home after Buckeye police had reviewed multiple tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children since Oct. 19, 2022.

Those tips produced 58 images, all of which were flagged as child porn, and provided a unique IPV6 IP address, which was traced back to Armstrong, court documents said.

Court documents state that in an interview after Armstrong was read his Miranda rights, he told investigators he had been struggling after a bout with COVID-19 and turned to pornographic material. Armstrong began looking at adult content but then began "looking for younger," according to court records.

Armstrong told investigators that the material was on a drive inside the home near the tablet he used for searching and downloading, court records state.

Armstrong said he never sexually touched his family or anyone else, according to court documents.

Armstrong was ultimately booked into jail and charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The Arizona Republic obtained a statement Legacy Traditional Schools sent to parents notifying them of Armstrong's arrest.

"Per school policy, the teacher has been placed on unpaid administrative leave and cannot access school grounds while the investigation is ongoing," the statement reads. "Police have informed us they have no indication that Legacy students have been harmed or involved in any way."

The school added that it runs a criminal background check on all of its applicants and would work with law enforcement throughout the investigation.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Buckeye police arrest Surprise music teacher on child porn charges