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Bull Run teacher charged with child porn
A Bull Run Middle School teacher was arrested last Friday on charges that he made child pornography. Eighth-grade science teacher John Byron Shulick, 53, of Catlett, was charged in federal court in Alexandria.According to a statement by U.S. attorney Chuck Rosenberg, the arrest stems from Shulick's encounters with a 16-year-old Fairfax girl. Court documents indicate that between October 2007 and March 2008, Shulick met the girl through a social networking site on the Internet.
"Shulick is alleged to have taken pictures of the girl engaging in sexually explicit conduct," states Rosenberg.
On March 12, law enforcement officers searched Shulick’s home in Catlett and a check of his computer revealed "a number of images of child pornography; including images depicting minors and prepubescent females identified by law enforcement in other investigations."
Shulick initially appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria March 31. He remained in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. April 2.
The school
Irene Cromer, a spokeswoman for the Prince William County School System, said Shulick was hired to work in 2004 to work at Bull Run Middle School.
Cromer said the school system does background checks on teachers and that Shulick had no record.
"We know that there are no Prince William County students involved, according to police,” Cromer said.
She added that Shulick was put on administrative leave on March 24 but that he hadn't been in the classroom since spring break started more than a week earlier.
On Monday, Principal William Bixby sent a letter home to parents explaining the situation.
“(On Monday) morning members of our school’s administrative team along with our school counselors visited our students in their first period classrooms to share this information and to answer any questions,” he wrote.
Bixby and a guidance counselor then visited each of Shulick's classes during the week. “During our meetings, we made our students aware that both school administrators and school counselors would be available throughout the day to meet with them to discuss their concerns or questions,” he added.
The case
According to court documents, the investigation began on March 5 when the boyfriend of the girl's mother spotted the teen getting out of the car with an older man.
The girl later admitted to her mother that Shulick had taken her to his house and that she had engaged in a “sexual act” with him.
The court records also state that the girl's father found naked pictures of her on a cell phone that Shulick had allegedly given her. The teen said Shulick had asked her to send him the photos.
Her parents contacted police and turned the cell phone over to them.
Police then interviewed the teen, who said told them that Shulick had taken “perhaps a hundred” pornographic photos of her.
Later, Fairfax County police officers and Fauquier County deputies executed a search warrant at Shulick's Catlett house.
The documents describe explicit photos of the teen and other girls that appear to have been taken in the home. Those photos were seized, along with Shulick’s cell phone, bondage equipment that had appeared in some of the photos, two digital cameras, two computers and hundreds of CDs and DVDs.
The investigation is being handled by the Fairfax County Police Department and the FBI.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Fairfax Police Department's Child Exploitation Unit at (703) 246-7827.
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