WA- Longtime Calif. music teacher jailed on suspicion of child pornography possession

8-11-2008 Washington:

A veteran Fresno, Calif., music teacher was arrested Thursday night and booked into Fresno County Jail on 100 counts on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

The arrest of Terry Zane, a 57-year-old grandfather, was announced Friday at a joint news conference with Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Michael Hanson and Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Hanson said Zane, who split his time the past two years between Wolters and Lawless elementary schools, had undergone at least two background checks during his time with Fresno Unified and had nothing on his file to suggest the criminal charges he now faces.

Susan Bedi, a FUSD spokeswoman, said Zane was placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

"We are going to work very closely with the Fresno police," she said.

Zane has worked in the district for 17 years at a number of schools.

Dyer said the ongoing investigation started July 31 when Zane took his desktop computer to a local repair shop, reportedly for some adjustments.

Police said the shop owner, who was not identified, had the computer only for a few hours when he called police, saying he had found child pornography pictures on the hard drive.

An examination of the computer, Dyer said, yielded more than 1,000 pictures of children, 3 to 17 years old, posing in the nude, and other 5- to 6-year-olds engaged in sex acts with adults.

Dyer said none of the people in the pictures have been identified and it does not appear any of Zane's students were involved.

Dyer said detectives did not learn Zane was a schoolteacher until Monday, at which time school officials were immediately notified and asked to help in the investigation.

On Thursday, Dyer said, the department decided it had enough probable cause to take Zane into custody.

The shop owner called Zane to pick up his computer. When Zane arrived, a similar computer was handed to him, Dyer said. He was arrested when he left the store.

A search warrant was served at Zane's home in the 6500 block of North Wishon Avenue, where he lives with his wife, Dyer said. A lap-top computer, which had been provided to Zane by the school district and which was found with 10 CDs, was seized for forensic tests, Dyer said. ..News Source.. by LOUIS GALVAN AND MARC BENJAMIN