The Pace Academy teacher arrested Monday and charged with possessing child porn admitted to purchasing videos of naked boys, according to a court document.
William Villemez, of Smyrna, taught fine arts at the prominent Atlanta private school for the last seven years. The school fired him on Monday after learning of the charges, according to headmaster Fred Assaf.
Villemez, snared in a multi-year investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, is scheduled for a detention hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker.
In 2010, federal agents began investigating a movie production company operating out of Canada that offered child porn videos for sale via the U.S. Postal Service and the Internet. In May 2011, authorities executed a seach warrant at the business and seized computer records and printed records. Villemez’s name and address — and the DVDs he had ordered — were on the customer lists, according to the affidavit.
On Monday, federal agents searched Villemez’s Smyrna home. Agents found the DVDs and videos of child pornography Villemez had ordered, according to the affidavit. “Upon questioning, William Villemez admitted that he had viewed images of child pornography and had downloaded and saved those images on his computer,” according to the affidavit.
Pace Academy sent a letter to parents outlining the incident on Monday.
“We are cooperating with federal agents as they continue their investigation. I want to stress to you that, according to federal investigators, [the teacher] has not involved any current or former Pace students in this situation, and there is no evidence of inappropriate physical contact between [the teacher] and Pace students or other children,” Assaf said in the letter.
“The emotional wellbeing of our students is our primary concern at this time. This news is incredibly shocking and upsetting to all of us in the Pace community, and we know that healing will take time,” Assaf wrote.
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