San Bernardino County elementary teacher arrested on child porn charges

A music teacher at three San Bernardino County elementary schools was arrested this week on suspicion of possessing child pornography, authorities said.

Michael William Duffer, 41, of Mentone was arrested Thursday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Duffer is a music teacher employed by the Snowline Joint Unified School District and has worked at Vista Verde Elementary in Victorville, Heritage School in Phelan and Wrightwood Elementary in Wrightwood.

On Feb. 2, the principal of Vista Verde Elementary reported that Duffer was seen after hours in his classroom watching obscene material on his computer while he was partially undressed, authorities said.

Duffer was placed on administrative leave by the district after the principal reported the incident to authorities.

Sheriff’s detectives determined that Duffer had been accessing child pornography from external storage devices and watching it on school computers. Detectives said they found external storage devices and computers containing pornographic files, photographs and videos at Duffer’s home.

In addition to his teaching jobs, Duffer also is a part-time employee at First United Methodist Church in Redlands, according to the sheriff’s department.

Duffer was booked Thursday into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino on $25,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17.

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