VALRICO, Fla. — A middle school employee was arrested Friday for allegedly having child pornography files on his electric devices, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Sean Shafer, 23, is facing 15 counts of possession of child pornography, 26 counts of in-state transmission of child pornography by an electronic device and one count of possession of obscene material after HCSO detectives found the files while conducting a search warrant.
Shafer was working as a teacher's aide at Mulrennan Middle School in Valrico during the time the files were found, the news release explains. Deputies say no students are currently suspected of being involved, and all the images appear to come from the internet.
“We are both shocked and disgusted by these allegations," the Hillsborough County School District said in a statement. "Mr. Shafer has been with our district since 2018 and has had no reported incidents involving students. He will not be returning to our district.”
According to the sheriff's office, deputies were made aware of the files through a cyber tip in May.
"The well-being of children should be the top priority for all of our school district employees, so it is especially upsetting that someone who works in the classroom would share obscene images of children online," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
"Our office will continue working diligently to find and arrest any individual who seeks to take advantage of minors or aides in their victimization."