VERNON, Connecticut — A former teacher and golf coach at Rockville High School pleaded guilty on Friday to a first-degree charge of illegal possession of child pornography and three counts of risk of injury to a child, according to a release from the state’s Division of Criminal Justice.
Christian Stevenson, 54, of Vernon, was arrested in October 2021 following an investigation by Det. Thomas Van Tasel of the Vernon Police Department about suspected child pornography being accessed within the town, prosecutors said.
Information from the National Center for Missing and exploited Children and the execution of several search warrants revealed that Stevenson was importing and accessing child pornography on his online accounts, according to prosecutors, who said the child pornography included both still images and an electronic video file.
After discovering that Stevenson was a teacher at Rockville High School, and that he served as the school’s golf coach, police executed additional search warrants.
Prosecutors said Van Tasel learned that Stevenson took covert photographs of multiple female students at the high school and within his classroom and accessed students’ social media accounts. Online, he downloaded their pictures without their permission; many of the photographs focused on students’ private areas, according to prosecutors.
Stevenson is scheduled to be sentenced in Rockville Superior Court on June 21 and faces a total effective sentence of 20 years; execution of that sentence will be suspended after Stevenson serves seven to nine years in prison and will be followed by 10 years of probation.
Prosecutors noted that Stevenson will be required to register with the state’s Sexual Offender Registry for a 10-year period.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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