A Kansas City, Missouri, elementary school teacher charged with child pornography production on Wednesday reportedly told investigators that his “dark inclinations” began while he counseled at a boys’ camp in Naples, Maine.
The FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Dennis Adlai Hernandez, 28, on Wednesday after Google sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, reporting that an account allegedly belonging to Hernandez uploaded child pornography to Google Photos.
According to court documents, the images allegedly uploaded by Hernandez depicted prepubescent boys.
Some of the images were seemingly taken inside a school building. Hernandez had begun teaching full time at Fairmount Elementary in Independence, Missouri, two days prior to his arrest and worked as a substitute teacher during the school’s summer childcare program.
Documents show that Hernandez reportedly spoke with FBI agents and admitted to possessing about a thousand files of child pornography. He allegedly confessed to illegally recording boys under his care while they were changing in locker rooms.
He allegedly revealed that he previously worked as a counselor at Maine’s Camp Takajo, where he reportedly stated that his “dark inclinations” and “sexual attraction” to male minors began. Court documents claim that Hernandez admitted that he was particularly interested in 6- to 8-year-olds.
He was charged with the transportation of child pornography, the production and attempted production of child pornography, and the possession of child pornography.
If convicted, Hernandez faces a maximum 70-year prison sentence and a minimum 20-year sentence.
