408 Child Porn Images Found On Phone Of Teacher: Police

LAKELAND, FL — Detectives found 408 child pornography images on a special needs teacher's phone from Lakeland High School, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The teacher, who is also a youth director at a church, will be fired, school officials said.

Investigators said they found a 20-second video of a girl between 10 and 12 years old performing oral sex on a man. The video was uploaded Feb. 20 through an app called KIK Messenger on Shawn Fitzgerald's phone.

Other images found by investigators showed babies about 10 to 12 months old being sexually battered by adults or used in sexual acts with other children, deputies said.

Fitzgerald, 46, coaches varsity soccer and tennis at Lakeland High in addition to teaching. He has been employed with the school district since 1998, said Polk County Public Schools District.

"We are shocked and disgusted by these charges," Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd said. "As educators, we are entrusted with the well-being of our young people every day. It is our sacred duty to set the highest moral example in our schools and our communities. We are cooperating fully with the investigation to ensure justice is served, and we are in the process of terminating this employee.”

The school district confirmed that Fitzgerald is in the process of being terminated.

Detectives from the PCSO Computer Crimes Unit served a search warrant at Fitzgerald's Lakeland home on Thursday.

Law enforcement officials found an app called Calculator Vault on Fitzgerald's phone. The app is designed to look like a calculator, but has the capability to hide saved images.

Authorities said Fitzgerald told a detective that he used the app to store images from an extramarital affair.

The investigation began after the sheriff's office received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Fitzgerald is also a youth director at First United Methodist Church in Bartow.

"An arrest like this shakes the entire community," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press release. "A man entrusted with the education and guidance of so many children, working closely with them, and betraying that trust in such a heinous way. Sadly, people who possess child pornography are out there, all over the world. But making these kinds of arrests are not rare in Polk County, due to the diligent work of the PCSO Computer Crimes Unit."

Fitzgerald faces charges of more than 400 counts of possessing child porn, deputies said.