A 21-year-old Arkansas teacher’s assistant, August “Gus” Shenker, has been charged with producing, possessing and transporting child pornography. The alleged images include ones depicting child sex abuse.

BY DANIEL VILLARREAL

Augustus ‘Gus’ Shenker, 21, was initially arrested on Tuesday on federal counts of transportation and possession of child pornography, and was released on bond.

Shenker is accused of filming pornographic videos with two young girls at the Little Rock school in late April. The videos were found on his phone during an FBI investigation 

But two days later, he ended up in jail again after FBI agents uncovered additional evidence on the suspect’s iPhone that prompted prosecutors to file a second complaint against Shenker, charging him with production of child pornography.

Teacher’s Assistant Arrested, Accused of Producing Child Porn at School

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

According to the documents obtained by KATV, when investigators reviewed the contents of Shenker’s phone, they discovered a pair of pornographic videos that depicted two prepubescent girls with an adult man.

Employee at Little Rock school arrested on child pornography charges

The videos were recorded between April 22-23 at the school where Shenker worked.

Shenker, who had worked as a teacher’s aide at Miss Selma’s School in Little Rock since 2017, was arraigned on Thursday. A judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation before Shenker’s bond could be set.

Augustus Shenker, 21, an Arkansas teaching assistant, has been charged with production of child pornography, and transportation and possession of child pornography

According to a criminal complaint cited by ArkansasOnline.com, the case began unfolding after tech companies Google, Adobe and Dropbox contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report the sharing of sexually explicit images and videos depicting girls between ages six to 10. Some of the images had penises photoshopped onto them.

Shenker had worked as a teacher’s aide at Miss Selma’s School in Little Rock since 2017 while studying elementary education at the University of Central Arkansas 

The pornographic material was allegedly linked to online accounts belonging to Shenker, and he was arrested by the FBI. 

During his initial interview, the 21-year-old teacher’s aide told investigators he ‘used to have a problem with child pornography in 2014-2016’ but insisted that it was all in the past.

He claimed that his Dropbox account had been hacked.

The FBI is now to looking identify potential victims in this case. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the agency at 501-221-9100. 

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