Former Bay Area Christian school employee accused of selling student pornography

Thursday, October 17, 2024 11:35PM PT
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A former employee at a San Jose private school is facing federal charges.

Todd Baldwin is the former director of operations at Valley Christian High School.

According to a criminal complaint, he's accused of selling student pornography in exchange for money.

Attorney Lauren Cerri represents child sexual abuse victims - but not in this specific case.

"So the consequences are severe, he's facing 10 years to life because these images are digital - they're on the internet, who knows how widespread they've already spread or they can in the future," Cerri said.

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The complaint accuses Baldwin of enticing a 16-year-old student and a 17-year-old student to take explicit pictures or videos of themselves from December 2022 to August 2023.



The material would then be sent to Baldwin via Snapchat or email.

The complaint states: "Baldwin bought Minor Boy 1 a ring light to improve the quality of the images and videos produced. Minor Boy 1 stated that Baldwin sold the photos and videos to buyers on Reddit and they would split the proceeds from the sales."

"When these boys are later men, how is it going to affect them then knowing they're out there - so these are very significant federal charges," Cerri said.



Court documents say payments from Baldwin to Minor 1 totaled $4,265

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Minor 2 estimated he received $2,500 from Baldwin via Venmo.

Investigators believe at least three other teenage boys were victims of Baldwin as well.

Lauren Cerri said when sexual abuse is happening in a school setting, it's important to recognize the warnings signs that are there.



"Other employees need to be aware of those favoritism, having a child one-in-one alone behind closed doors, coming up with activities, reasons to spend with the child alone," Cerri said.

We reached out to Valley Christian for comment and are waiting to hear back.

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