Schoolteacher Is Arrested on Child Pornography Charge
A Westlake Village elementary school teacher was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography, authorities said Tuesday.
Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested James Robertson, 56, a longtime teacher at White Oak School, at his Thousand Oaks home Monday afternoon. He was being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Robertson’s arrest followed a weeklong investigation resulting from an anonymous tip, sheriff’s spokesman Eric Nishimoto said.
Authorities served a search warrant at Robertson’s home and seized computer files, pornographic photos and stories written about sex with minors, Nishimoto said. Authorities believe the material was commercially generated, not created by Robertson.
Possession of child pornography by a person with no prior conviction is a misdemeanor, Nishimoto said, punishable by a $2,000 fine or up to a year in County Jail.
The district attorney’s office had not filed charges by late Tuesday.
Stephen Hanke, assistant superintendent in charge of personnel for the Las Virgenes Unified School District, which oversees the school where Robertson works, said officials will not make a decision about the teacher’s future with the district until formal charges are filed.
Robertson taught fourth- and fifth-graders last year, according to the White Oak School’s Web site.
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