Former John Adams Elementary School teacher Justin Coleman
pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of producing child
pornography Wednesday.
He faces a minimum of 30 years in jail and a maximum of 60 for
the pair of charges.
Coleman, 35, was a fourth grade dual languages teacher at the
West End school when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officers raided his Falls Church home in April, following leads
from Italian authorities who identified him in a child
pornography investigation.
Federal agents arrested Coleman after discovering an external
hard drive loaded with child pornography at his home, as well as
several pairs of girls’ underpants. He also had more girls’
underwear in his pocket when authorities took him into custody
April 6.
Some of the undergarments were taken from a backpack stolen from
John Adams Elementary, according to court affidavits. Another
came from an 11-year-old Russian girl Coleman met in an
international program.
Though initially charged with receipt of child pornography,
Coleman was later indicted for filming illicit videos featuring
young girls. At least two videos featured underage girls
engaging in sexual acts with Coleman while unaware of what they
were doing, officials said.
Coleman admitted to seeing “tens of thousands” of explicit
photos and videos of children over several years, viewing them
as often as two or three times a week, authorities said. He also
manipulated photos to include images of former students, said
Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
Virginia, in a statement.
Federal agents seized electronics containing roughly 2,500
images manipulated by Coleman and about 1,000 videos. All
together, he had more than 75,000 images of “child pornography”
and “child erotica,” according to court documents.
He preferred pornography featuring five- to 12-year-old girls,
officials said.
Coleman was barred from Alexandria City Public Schools after his
arrest and dismissed from his position in June. The
investigation and subsequent indictment shocked the community
and outraged parents. Coleman had worked for the district since
2005 and passed all required background checks, school officials
said.
“Child predators have no place in our school systems,” said John
Torres, special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security
Investigations, in a statement following the plea deal.
“Working with our partners, ICE HSI will continue to identify
and arrest individuals who use their positions of public trust
to take advantage of the most innocent in our society.”
Few details about the investigation leading to Coleman’s arrest
had been released, but federal officials now say the former
teacher was one of about 900 individuals in the U.S. with
connections to a child pornography website identified by Italian
authorities in March, 2010.
ICE worked Fairfax County and Alexandria police on the
investigation. The Northern Virginia and District of Columbia
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force assisted
authorities.
Coleman’s sentencing is scheduled for October 28 in federal
court.