Arkansas teacher’s assistant pleads guilty to producing child pornography

A grand jury indicted Augustus Shenker in 2021 on twenty-two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possessing the material, however he only admitted to three counts of the former.

According to FOX News, Shenker was arrested in May 2021 after the Federal Bureau of Investigations got a tip revealing an online directory containing seven pornographic videos of children.

Further investigation revealed that the email used to create the directory belonged to Shenker. He admitted to being the owner, and to having had a problem with child pornography, but told investigators he no longer viewed the material.

Authorities then executed a search warrant at his home, and discovered six videos that he created earlier in the year depicting him inappropriately touching kids in a classroom. They also found thousands of child abuse images on various devices, as well as a secret folder on his phone containing nineteen videos recorded at a school.

Shenker was, at the time, a teacher's assistant at Miss Selma's School in Little Rock, an insitution for children 18-months-old to fifth grade.

The school fired him upon hearing of the allegations, and has cooperated with the investigation.

According to Arkansas law, Shanker is facing a minimum sentence of fifteen years, with a maximum of thirty, after which he will require five years of supervision and be registered as a sex offender. A sentencing date has not yet been set.