WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- A message went out Tuesday from Dr. John Long Middle School’s principal to parents about the arrest of science teacher William Crawford:
“We were not aware of the investigation until today and are greatly disturbed to learn that one of our teachers was involved in criminal activity," the message read.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, that criminal activity was possession of child pornography.
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Investigators say they found out about it after Crawford brought his laptop to Best Buy for repairs.
The store contacted law enforcement when a Geek Squad member working on the computer found the images.
Deputies got a search warrant in August. But the sheriff’s office says because of its backlog in these type of cases, they didn’t search William’s computer until December.
Some parents are upset that Crawford was still teaching here for months after the investigation began.
Deputies say it gets one of the highest number of tips of child porn cases out of the 17 county task force it’s a part of.
And sometimes it takes weeks to go through the computer files.
The Sheriff’s Office says when found a picture of Crawford wearing a John Long Middle School polo shirt, they immediately told the district and made the arrest.
The Sheriff’s Office did not find any evidence that any of the images involved students at the school.
After looking at Crawford’s personnel file, we found he was suspended for two days without pay in 2009 for sending inappropriate messages to a female student through MySpace.
