Tulsa Middle School Teacher Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

TULSA, Okla. — A fired middle school teacher who worked at Tulsa Honor Academy and Dove Science Academy was arrested June 3 and charged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma with receipt of child pornography and possession of or access with intent to view child pornography.

The defendant, a Tulsa resident, is the sole individual named in the criminal complaint. The charges stem from allegations that the former teacher received and possessed child sexual abuse material, per the Department of Justice announcement. Federal law carries a mandatory minimum five-year prison term for receipt of child pornography and up to 20 years for possession with intent to view.

The arrest removes the individual from any further contact with the student populations served by Tulsa Honor Academy, a public charter school, and Dove Science Academy, a tuition-free charter network that together enroll several hundred middle-school students in the Tulsa metro area. Both schools terminated the teacher's employment prior to the arrest.

The charges shift the case from an internal school personnel matter to a federal criminal prosecution. Arraignment must occur within days under federal speedy-trial rules, after which a detention hearing will determine pretrial custody status. Conviction will require the defendant to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, with registration obligations lasting at least 15 years and up to lifetime depending on the final counts of conviction.

Sentencing would then follow U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that treat receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material as serious felonies with specific enhancements for number of images and victim ages.

This case follows a pattern of federal prosecutions targeting educators and school employees for child sexual abuse material offenses. The Department of Justice has brought similar receipt and possession charges against school personnel in multiple districts in recent years, each time triggering both criminal penalties and parallel civil actions by state education boards to revoke teaching credentials.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma is prosecuting the case.