Feds dismiss porn charges against teacher

Humm, the facts simply are inconsistent with other facts mentioned. Malware put child porn in the computer cache, a place invisible to the eye; but the wife was able to see them, guess she had some sort of x-ray vision. We might see this case again. Heads up to his lawyer though.

9-1-2012 Vermont:

Federal prosecutors have dismissed child pornography charges against a former Monument Elementary School teacher.

_______, 34, was initially charged by the state with five felony counts of possession of child pornography, to which he pleaded not guilty in February. He was released on conditions that allowed him to live with family in Connecticut.

The state dismissed its charges, allowing federal prosecutors to review the case, and ___ was arrested in late May, then released on similar conditions. He was never formally indicted.

He was fired by the Bennington School District in February. He had taught at Monument Elementary School since 2009.

According to court filings in U.S. District Court District of Vermont, prosecutors filed their motion to dismiss on Friday.

Dockum’s attorney, David F. Silver of Bennington, said that before the state handed off the case to the U.S. Attorney’s office a deposition had been taken from Detective Trooper Renee Hall, of Internet Crimes Against Children task force (ICAC). Silver said that according to Hall there is no evidence Dockum knew he had child pornography images on his computer, which is a necessary component of criminal possession.

Silver said ___ had visited a website which placed the 17 images the state alleged were of child pornography into his computer’s temporary Internet cache. Silver said it would be as if someone had entered ___’s house and placed child pornography in his garbage. He said ____ would have had to know the images were there for it to count as possession, and the state had no evidence to show he put the images on the computer or even knew they existed.

He said he filed motions to dismiss after the deposition was taken, and that was when the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office said it would drop the charges against Dockum and let the U.S. Attorney’s office handle it.

"Of course I’m very happy the federal government took the time to investigate the case before deciding to charge," Silver said.

He said the State’s Attorney’s office is free to charge ___ again should it choose to. He said such a move would be surprising.

"This is a tragedy," Silver said, adding that his client was a beloved teacher and has lost his job and reputation. "I don’t know how he gets that back."

Attempts to reach State’s Attorney Erica Marthage were not successful.

According to an affidavit by Bennington police, they were approached in September 2011 by ___’s wife, who said she’d seen images of young girls on their home computer. Police said they attempted to have the computer turned over to them, but by the time they did, ___ had removed the hard drive and disposed of it, telling police he had promised his wife he would no longer use it and that simply deleting files does not remove them from the computer.

Police also seized a laptop he was issued through the school which they searched and found the 17 images that led to him being charged.

According to police, the computer would not access the sites ___ was alleged to have visited from school servers, but could from other access points. ..Source.. by KEITH WHITCOMB JR.