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Principal Allegedly Superimposed Child's Face On Nude Images

Friday, December 21, 2007 – updated: 5:05 pm EST December 21, 2007

A Polk County principal was arrested Friday on child pornography charges, deputies said. The 60-year-old allegedly superimposed the face of a 10-year-old student on a nude image.

The Polk County Sheriff's Special Victims Unit arrested John Stelmack, 60, at his Lakeland home Friday morning and charged him with five counts of possession of child pornography.

Stelmack is the principal of Scott Lake Elementary School. Deputies said Stelmack has been on paid administrative leave since last Friday while the sheriff's office investigated the allegations.

According to Polk County investigators, during the school's own investigation they seized a black briefcase from Stelmack's office and, on December 19, the school board superintendant contacted the sheriff's office in regards to what they found in that briefcase.

Inside the briefcase, investigators said, were five images of child pornography created by Stelmack. Stelmack allegedly took routine photographs of children in a school setting, one positively identified as a 10-year-old student who attended Scott Lake Elementary last year, and digitally superimposed their heads onto nude images.

The identified girl's facial image was on four of the pictures and another unidentified female child's face was placed on the body of another nude image.

"The photographs that Stelmack manipulated into child pornography are graphic and repulsive," said Sheriff Grady Judd. "To think that a school principal, someone who is entrusted with the safety and well-being of hundreds of school children, would do something like this is incomprehensible."

Investigators say Stelmack is married and has two adult children. He came to Polk County from the New York state school system. He was jailed on five counts of possession of child pornography with bond set at $100,000.

Late Friday afternoon, investigators said, during the execution of a search warrant, deputies took a laptop computer and a desktop computer from the home of Stelmack and found 10 to 20 images that could be classified as child pornography. Further charges may be filed against him based on the continued investigation and search.

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