Nov 29, 2007 4:41 pm US/Pacific
2 Teachers Suspected Of Possessing Child Porn
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Three Southland men -- two of them schoolteachers -- were arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Thursday.
David Hassler, 62, is a religious studies teacher at Mayfield Senior School of the Holy Child Jesus, an all-girls Catholic high school in Pasadena.
Investigators allegedly found numerous printed images of child pornography when they searched Hassler's South Pasadena home.
He has been charged with possession of child pornography and placed on administrative leave by Mayfield Senior School officials, ICE officials said.
Kenneth Kothe, 61, is a first grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Lynwnod. Investigators said they found hundreds of printed images of child pornography in Kothe's Alhambra home, and that he admitted to downloading and printing the images.
Kothe was taken into custody on suspicion of possessing child pornography and was placed on unpaid administrative leave by Lynwood Unified School District officials, ICE officials said.
Droobie Pooh, 39, was arrested Tuesday in West Hollywood after a search of his home turned up hundreds of computer images of child pornography and a homemade videotape depicting a child in sexually explicit poses, ICE said.
After interviewing family members, investigators contacted representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, who removed two children from Pooh's home.
The LAPD is pursuing possible child molestation violations against Pooh, in addition to the current charges he's facing, according to ICE.
"This operation is bittersweet for law enforcement officers," said Lt. Felicia Hall, officer in charge of LAPD's Child Protection Section. "It is sad and tragic to deem an operation a success when it involves the victimization of innocent and vulnerable children."
The suspects were arrested this week on state charges, but ICE officials said the agency is considering bringing federal charges against the three men.
This week's arrests and searches are part of a four-year ICE investigation targeting human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers and foreign national sex predators whose crimes make them deportable, ICE officials said.
ICE agents have arrested more than 10,000 people, including more than 2,300 in California, as part of the investigation.
Members of the public who wish to report crimes against children can call ICE's 24-hour toll-free hotline at (866) DHS-2ICE; LAPD's 24-hour toll-free number at (877) LAWFULL (529-3855); LAPD's Internet Crimes Against Children at (213) 847-5358 and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 or logging online at www.cybertipline.com.
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