Posted on 08/11/2010 2:15:50 PM PDT by Malacoda
UPPER PROVIDENCE — First-grade teacher and day camp director David Devine will be released on bail once electronic home monitoring is set up at his mother’s Chester Heights home.
Devine, 34, who is suspended from his teaching position with the West Chester Area School District, on Tuesday waived his preliminary hearing on 500 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.
District Judge Nicholas Lippincott reduced Devine’s bail to 10 percent of $50,000, with conditions.
Although a resident of Media, Devine must stay with his mother in Chester Heights because Devine’s home in the 1000 block of Second Avenue is near an elementary school.
He also was ordered to be fitted with an electronic home monitor and to stay away from all minors, and he is barred from using the Internet.
His next court appearance will be his formal arraignment Sept. 9 in Media.
Devine is suspended without pay from his teaching position with the West Chester Area School District, Superintendent Dr. James Scanlon said. Devine taught at Penn Wood Elementary School since December 2008 after coming from the Great Valley School District, where Scanlon said his resume indicated he had been student-teaching.
Authorities said Devine was also director of Camp Flying Hawk, which according to a Web site is a day camp for children entering second through fifth grade. The camp is unaffiliated with the West Chester Area schools.
“Camp Flying Hawk is all about making the summer come alive for younger campers,” the Web site reads.
At a news conference announcing Devine’s arrest last week, Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green said authorities have no evidence to suggest Devine took any of the pictures or videos found on his computer. The images were filed, shared digital images that he obtained online, Green said.
“We have no reason at this point to believe that any contact offenses occurred here at the camp or anywhere else involving Mr. Devine,” Green said. “However, we’re interested in any information anyone in the public may have concerning Mr. Devine and his activities during the recent past.”
Green was joined at the news conference by Delaware County Detective Lt. David Peifer of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Upper Providence Police Chief Dave Montella and Assistant District Attorney Joseph Lesniak, who will prosecute the case.
Green said the investigation remains open.
Devine was at home when Peifer, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael Fegley, Upper Providence police and others made their entrance shortly before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
According to the arrest affidavit, Devine at that time admitted he created a Yahoo account that investigators determined used an online social-networking platform known as Ning to upload images and videos of young males. He also admitted to possession of child porn, the affidavit states.
The raid followed an investigation by county Detective Michele Deery, which began Monday after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the pair of tips it received from Ning.
According to the affidavit, Ning reported that on Aug. 17, 2009, the Yahoo account in question uploaded images and videos of child pornography to two Ning groups. Ning reported one video of two prepubescent boys and seven images uploaded. In the second tip, Ning reported two uploads of an adult male molesting a prepubescent male.
Last month, investigators sought court orders for the Yahoo identifier used to upload the images to Ning, as well as a specific Internet protocol address maintained by Verizon. Verizon identified the account subscriber as Devine, the affidavit states.
At Devine’s house, Fegley searched various computers and found more than 500 images of child pornography. As many as 5,000 total images were found, authorities said.
Scanlon said Devine passed a federal background check as well as state background checks involving crime and child abuse. No complaints had been made against Devine during his time at Penn Wood Elementary School, Scanlon said.
Scanlon said he personally called the parents of the 22 students Devine taught in his class last year. Of those, at least two enrolled in the summer camp.
Counselors will be available today at Penn Wood Elementary School for parents struggling with how to talk to their children about Devine’s arrest and the allegations.
Meanwhile, Green stressed that anyone with concerns or information concerning Devine should call the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division at 610-891-8746. “And we specifically are requesting that any parent who is concerned contact that phone number and we will see to it an appropriate detective is in touch with each and every caller and each and every caller will be interviewed.”
It also appears that his day camp -- Camp Flying Hawk -- was actually unlicensed.
Another reason to homeschool! (One of this guy’s students’ mom is actually defending him.)
David Devine will be released on bail once electronic home monitoring is set up at his mother’s Chester Heights home.
A 34 year old living in his Mom's house. There's your sign!
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tinypic.com used to show user uploaded images real-time.
They don’t any more.
Once I saw an image of kiddie porn there.
I learned what the phrase ‘vile disgusting and repulsive’ means.
The pariahs that make and view this stuff have to be put away for good.
Maybe this Devine is related to the Devine of Pink Flamingos fame (or flame).
I’m just not sold on male teachers in early elementary. Just seems wrong.
Not to excuse the idiot who is defending this monster in any way, but: I think sometimes parents need to support the teacher/school/district in this sort of instance because they carry a lot of guilt for allowing their kids to stay in the system.
Most of the parents I know who have kids in public schools know that their kids aren’t receiving the best educations. But they have a long list of reasons why they can’t homeschool or send their kids to private schools. Too expensive, too much time, mom “needs” to work, kid prefers public school, and so on.
Many parents seem to need to convince themselves that their kids are fine in the public system, even when the kids are clearly not alright/safe/learning at all.
This guy will be less than 2 miles from me. I’m glad I don’t have any young kids to watch out for.
Different school district, but I believe this guy is in the same county as Lower Merion where high school students were being eavesdropped on via the webcams on their school issued laptops.
Nope. He was teaching in the West Chester school district (ChesCo). I think he lived in DE county. The webcam thing was MontCo.
OK...thanks.
The problem is that so many female teachers don’t know how to deal with boys. The want them to sit and act like girls. I am so glad that ours are at home and safe.
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