ADRIAN, Mich — Friday afternoon, Lenawee Christian Schools CEO Jim Colman, released a statement regarding the arrest of a former substitute teacher and community youth coach accused of creating, possessing and distributing child pornography.
Matthew Thomas is accused of uploading 93 pornographic photos of minors to a popular photo sharing website according to Federal Court documents from the Eastern District of Michigan obtained by WTOL.
Some of the victims appear to be as young as three years old at the time the photos were taken.
According to Colman's letter, some of the victims may have been students at Lenawee Christian School.
The letter states the FBI made the school aware of the situation. They wanted to fire him immediately, but the FBI needed to collect more evidence before an arrest could be made.
"We did, however, take immediate steps to monitor Mr. Thomas’ classroom at all times utilizing multiple staff members so that he was never alone with students. The FBI never told us when they were going to arrest Mr. Thomas. We learned of his arrest on Wednesday night. We then fired Mr. Thomas immediately and sent a short statement to parents," Colman said.
Free counseling is being offered to every parent and student who requests it according to the letter.
The full statement from Colman is below.
"My colleagues and I are devastated that it’s necessary to be emailing you tonight about the shocking and disgusting allegations made against a former substitute teacher at our school. As you must know, Matthew Thomas was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday on child pornography charges.You deserve a full explanation as to the events surrounding these horrible crimes. Last week, FBI agents contacted school administrators and asked for our help in a child pornography investigation. They shared very few details with us but did tell us that Mr. Thomas was the suspect and that some of the victims may have been our students.Our obvious reaction upon learning this information was that we wanted to immediately fire Mr. Thomas, to ensure that he had no contact with our students and to notify parents. However, the FBI agents told us that they didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him and warned us that doing anything to tip him off might allow him to destroy evidence and escape prosecution. Very reluctantly, we agreed to the FBI’s request to stay silent for a few days as the agents continued their investigation. We did, however, take immediate steps to monitor Mr. Thomas’ classroom at all times utilizing multiple staff members so that he was never alone with students.The FBI never told us when they were going to arrest Mr. Thomas. We learned of his arrest on Wednesday night. We then fired Mr. Thomas immediately and sent a short statement to parents. Words cannot express the depth of anger and betrayal all of us here feel. We love and care for your children as if they were our own and it breaks our hearts that someone we all trusted appears to have betrayed us and done something so horrible. I’m truly sorry that this has happened. Our foremost responsibility and goal is to keep your children safe. Every day, we do so many things to safeguard students. Since we learned of this incident, we’re reviewing our operations and will seek any new safeguards available moving forward. We’ve offered free counseling by trained professionals to every student and parent who requests it. If you or your child would like to speak with a professional, please get in contact with the school so we can help. This process has been the most challenging time of my career as an educator. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is for you and your children. We’ll continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement to ensure that justice is done and that any crimes committed against our students, or others in our community, are punished to the fullest extent of the law. More importantly, we will continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our students."
This is a developing story, WTOL will continue to provide you with more information as it becomes available.
