A third grade teacher who taught at Encanto Elementary School in the Osborn School District was arrested after federal officials said he shared child pornography with an undercover agent, according to the FBI.
Gabriel Lorenzo Chacon is accused of sending child pornography and child sexual abuse material to an Australian law enforcement officer using an online messaging platform. The officer directly messaged Chacon after seeing a concerning post Chacon had written in a group chat on the platform, court documents said.
In direct messages, Chacon told the officer that he was a teacher, that he liked boys under the age of 10 and made comments about wishing he could perform sexual acts at work, according to documents. Chacon also sent photos of his
genitals to the undercover officer.
The officer asked Chacon what types of videos he liked and asked him to send some of his favorites. Chacon then sent the officer multiple videos of prepubescent boys being sexually abused by adult men, documents said.
The New South Wales Police Force in Australia and the FBI used Chacon’s username and other information provided in the chat to identify him, according to documents.
On Oct. 7, a judge authorized search warrants for Chacon and his home, court documents said. Once detained by FBI agents, Chacon told them he had saved child pornography onto his account in the internet chat service and said he had viewed pornography featuring children ranging in age from babies to teenagers, according to documents. He told officers he knew the videos were of real children, not computer-generated images.
He told officers he had not been hands-on with any children, in his classroom or otherwise, and said he had never taken pictures or videos of minors, according to court documents.
Osborn School District Superintendent Felipe Carranza sent a letter to families in the district, informing them Chacon had been placed on leave and that his access to district technology and buildings was restricted.
Carranza wrote that the district was assured by law enforcement that no Osborn Elementary School students were connected to the criminal behavior.
According to Chacon's public Instagram account, he previously taught at Solano Elementary School.
His most recent post, from July 30, said, "So happy to be back at Encanto for my second year already feeling a world of change and ready to keep going."
His posts show his classroom and a drawing of a heart made by a student. No children are featured in his posts.
Corina Vanek covers development for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X @CorinaVanek.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What an undercover officer found in Phoenix teacher's messages
