A high school teacher and football coach was arrested Wednesday, charged with two counts of possession of child pornography.
41-year-old James “Shannon” Arnett, of the 8800 block of Pine Tree Drive in Lakeland, was taken into custody and booked into the Polk County Jail on Wednesday. Arnett is employed at the Lake Gibson High School as an Assistant Football Coach-Defensive Coordinator
Investigators said, a Lake Gibson High School student turned a thumb drive in to a PCSO School Resource deputy, telling the deputy he had found a thumb drive in the school’s courtyard and that it had “inappropriate” photos on it. The student told the deputy that he had a 12-year-old sister, and after looking at some of the pictures on the thumb drive he was “pissed.
Arnett had previously told the School Resource deputy that he had lost a thumb drive and that he was worried because the device contained defensive football plays. He had said he thought he lost the thumb drive in a school bathroom.
The thumb drive found was determined to be that lost by Arnett, investigators said.
Deputies said, in addition to images of defensive football plays on the device, there were images of females between 13-17 years of age with the photo focal point being the girl’s breasts and buttocks (these children were wearing clothes and some have been identified as Lake Gibson High School students). Some photos appeared to have been taken in a classroom setting, while others appeared to have been taken in a track and field type setting. There were photos of children posing in a provocative/risqué manner and others of young females wearing bathing suits with their legs spread with the focal point of the photo being that of their genital area, investigators said.
Deputies also said, there were also two images that were determined to be child pornography. One was an image of a female child between the ages of 10-12 years-old performing oral sex on an adult male. The other image was of a female child between the ages of 9-11 years of age grabbing a male’s exposed erect penis while the two were seated in a vehicle.
A search of Arnett’s work lap-top computer yielded additional photos of young females believed to be that of LGHS students and an image of a male masturbating.
Arnett’s work computer, home computer and personal phone were seized.
The investigation is on-going.
