TAMPA, Fla. — A former Hillsborough County teacher stood before a judge on Tuesday, pleading guilty to child porn and animal crush video charges.
That magistrate judge accepted his change of plea to guilty on three of the charges against him.
10 Investigates reported on July 27 that Kenneth Griffin agreed to a plea deal – pleading guilty to one count of distribution of child porn and one count of possession of child porn.
Last month, we talked to a mom who says her son was in those images.
“He’s been diagnosed with PTSD,” that mother told 10 Investigates reporter Jenna Bourne. “He cannot be alone with a male. He’s tried to commit suicide twice.”
Griffin also pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of an animal crush video – that’s video of animals being sexually abused.
On Tuesday, a federal magistrate judge accepted his change of plea to guilty on those three counts, but a different judge still has to decide whether to accept the plea deal he made with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and sentence him.
As part of Griffin’s plea deal, four other counts of child porn and animal crush video charges would be dropped.
More than a decade before Griffin was booked into jail, he was a teacher at Hillsborough County Public Schools.
The state permanently revoked his Florida educator certificate in November 2011 after he was accused of sending sexual messages to a student.
State law says that means a person can’t teach or have any job requiring direct contact with students at any district school board or public school in Florida.
But 10 Investigates exposed last month that Griffin went on to get at least six more jobs in education, including two teaching jobs.
Most recently, he was a teacher at Academy Prep Center of Tampa.
You don’t need to have an educator certificate to teach in a Florida private school.
Head of School L’Tanya Evans told 10 Investigates that Griffin was fired in January 2022, after Homeland Security told the private school about the federal investigation that led to his arrest in April.
10 Investigates wrote a letter to Griffin in jail and we repeatedly reached out to his lawyer Ken Eulo, asking to hear Griffin’s side of the story. We also talked to Eulo at the courthouse on Tuesday, but he said he and his client have no comment.