ANDERSON, Ind. — A teacher and pastor in Anderson is accused of possessing, producing and sharing child pornography.
Police said a cybertip led investigators to find the material on Claud Greenlee II phone.
According to Westfield police, investigators found several images on the device. Police say they found multiple chats on his Kik account asking other users for the material.
"We see the accounts of Kik being used an app where material is traded because they have chat rooms where people with like interests can talk among each other and trade material," said Kristina Korobov, a senior attorney at Zero Tolerance Project.
Also in the chats, police say Greenlee stated he was a varsity baseball coach and a high school and middle school teacher.
"Today is the first day of school and I think about a lot of parents who will stand with their parents at that bus stop, afraid of a stranger coming to kidnap them, but the reality is their child is way more likely to be sexually preyed upon by a trusted adult in their life, like pastor, like a teacher, like a coach, like a relative," said Korobov.
According to court documents, Greenlee was served a search warrant at Liberty Christian School where he worked and coached. And after police say they read him his Miranda rights, they claim he made statements like "he has looked at child erotica," and "has seen photos or videos of prepubescent children."
"It's not uncommon at all where offenders have been looking at and seeking child sexual abuse material for years. On many occasions, they've actually deleted their collections because they know it's wrong and then they start over again and again," Korobov explained.
During the investigation, police also learned he was a senior pastor at Tri-County Christian Church in Middletown. And while no one from the church wanted to go on camera, a member of the church tells 13News reporter Chase Houle that they're just as dumbfounded as everybody else.
"We have to be aware that this could be anyone, which is why it is so important for us to have constant conversations with our children about what's going on with them. We need to be letting our children know if anyone touches them, asks for pictures of them, approaches them on the internet, that they can come to trusted people and seek help," Korobov said.
Houle also reached out to Liberty Christian School but didn't hear anything back.