School Zone Blog
The Journal Sentinel education reporters offer news and notes from their beat
Brookfield - An Elmbrook School District middle school teacher has been charged in federal court with possessing child pornography, according to court documents.
Jared J. Heckenkamp, 34, teaches applied technology and engineering and coaches wrestling at Pilgrim Park Middle School. He has been employed by the School District for seven years and has been placed on leave while the district investigates whether any criminal activity involved his school computer or schoolchildren, district officials said.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Heckenkamp's Milwaukee home Wednesday, where they found child pornography on two computers and a flash drive. Agents also found a plastic bag of what is believed to be marijuana and a pipe inside a drawer.
A source who is not named in the complaint told the FBI that Heckenkamp was using an encrypted IP address to access child pornography. The FBI began tracing Heckenkamp's Internet usage and found that he had visited several child pornography Web sites, the complaint says.
Heckenkamp told FBI agents that he began using the Internet to view adult pornography about 10 years ago, according to the complaint. He said he began searching for child pornography about a year ago after paying for the encrypted IP address, the complaint says.
Heckenkamp also told agents "that he was attracted to females of all ages, but preferred girls 12 to 13 years old," according to the complaint.
Heckenkamp was released on a signature bond after his appearance Thursday. Among other restrictions, he must turn over his school keys, avoid unsupervised contact with minors and refrain from using a computer without the court's approval.
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