Contra Costa County Substitute Teacher Pleads Not Guilty To Child Porn Charges

MARTINEZ - A Contra Costa County substitute teacher and former school administrator pleaded not guilty Tuesday to child pornography charges in a Martinez courtroom.

David Prashker, 60, made his first court appearance after being arrested Thursday in his Lafayette residence in the 3600 block of Bickerstaff Road, prosecutors said.

Also on Patch: Local Substitute Teacher Arrested, Accused Of Child Porn Charges

Prashker denied charges of possessing and distributing child pornography, as well as attempting to destroy evidence when he allegedly tossed a laptop containing child pornography from a second-floor bedroom into his backyard while a search warrant was being served.

Prashker was arrested and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility and is being held on $205,000 bail.

A public defender assigned to Prashker, Michael Lepie, asked that his client be allowed supervised release from jail, given that he had no criminal record and that his alleged crimes did “not involve touching” any victims.

Prashker was a substitute teacher at two private schools in the central area of the county, but there is no evidence currently that his alleged crimes involved students at the schools.

The prosecuting attorney, Deputy District Attorney Jordan Sanders, contended that such aspects of the case are still being investigated.

Sanders also argued that Prashker “was at risk of destroying more evidence,” referencing the events surrounding his arrest.

Furthermore, Sanders said Prashker is not a citizen of the U.S. His United Kingdom passport has been seized but prosecutors are concerned he could still flee the country.

Prashker was born in London and has lived in places such as France and Israel in the course of his 30-year career as a teacher and school administrator, according to his online biography.

His website, theargamanpress.com, remained online at the time of this writing.

the on-line home for the novels, prose, poetry, songs and drawings of David Prashker.

Eight years ago, Prashker was involved in controversy when he was the director of a private Jewish school in Canada. Administrators reviewed samples of sexual and at times violent poetry written by Prashker – and posted on his website – after parents complained the content was inappropriate for an educator.

According to a Canadian newspaper, one of the entries began with the line “The first act of killing is the hardest” and ended with “the second time is remarkably straightforward.”

Prashker ultimately resigned from the Toronto, Canada school in 2008.

On Tuesday, a request that Prashker be released with a GPS-enabled ankle monitor was denied.

Prashker faces his preliminary hearing on March 3 in Martinez.

If convicted, Prashker faces a maximum penalty of 44 months in prison, and fines, prosecutors said.

-Bay City News contributed to this article, image via ShutterStock