From: www.lubbockonline.com
By Gabriel Monte / A-J Media
A former Lubbock-Cooper ISD science teacher was arrested Thursday morning, accused of taking inappropriate pictures of students with his cell phone, according to an arrest warrant.
The warrant for Cody Lee Taylor, 36, was issued on Monday, charging him with possession of child pornography. Taylor turned himself in to Texas Anti-Gang Center investigators Thursday morning and is currently in the Lubbock County Detention Center, Lubbock police announced Thursday. His bail is set at $10,000.
Taylor is not a known gang member. TAG was asked to investigate the possible criminal allegations because of their resources, according to a news release from TAG.
Lubbock-Cooper ISD officials said in a statement, that did not identify Taylor, that a school employee resigned on Feb. 22.
“Student safety and well-being is the utmost priority of Lubbock-Cooper ISD,” the statement reads. “As soon as campus administrators were made aware of potentially inappropriate behavior exhibited by this employee, the employee was removed from the classroom and was not permitted any further contact with Lubbock-Cooper ISD students. The district immediately contacted law enforcement officials and cooperated fully in the investigative process, which began the same day.”
The TAG investigation began on Feb. 26, about five days after school officials did an internal investigation that involved speaking with 10 students. Investigators were called by Homeland Security Investigators about an active investigation into Taylor’s alleged illegal behavior, the warrant states.
Investigators believe Taylor, who taught at Lubbock Cooper North Elementary, had female students sit on a “work desk” while using a school-issued iPad as he sat across them, holding his smartphone under the table and taking pictures of their genital areas, the warrant states.
During a search of his home computer, investigators found an image of apparent child pornography, the warrant states.
Taylor, who taught science while working on obtaining a teaching certificate, initially denied having inappropriate photos of his students on his phone to investigators who spoke with him at the school, the warrant states.
He said the accusations came from students who didn’t like him. He also reportedly said he believed the school’s administrators were “picking on him.”
Taylor reportedly told investigators he didn’t trust law enforcement and tried persuading them not to seize his phone.
Investigators recovered from his phone a deleted video of a juvenile female’s genital area, the warrant states.
However, later that day, as law enforcement searched his home, he reportedly admitted to taking “dozens” of inappropriate photos with his phone, but said he took them on accident. He said the didn’t know how his phone worked and said the accidental photos may have resulted from how low he was holding his phone. Detectives found Taylor’s explanations inconsistent and unreasonable, the warrant states.
A student spoke with an investigator early in March and described Taylor as an abrasive teacher who didn’t want them to ask questions and was on his phone during class more than other teachers, the warrant states.
However, he would also stand close to the girls in the classroom and “play with their hair,” the girl reportedly told the investigator.
She said Taylor reportedly “made it a point to touch their hair and flip it over their face,” the warrant states.
She said the day before Taylor resigned he called on her and two other girls to sit at a desk by him while they used iPads. She described this as a regular occurrence in Taylor’s class and he would often call on the girls to the desk. But he didn’t offer any instruction while they sat at the desk. Instead, he held his phone under the desk. She said as he did this, Taylor made noises of frustration, saying he would exhale loudly and grunt.
She said she sat with her legs crossed and he told her to “fix her body,” the warrant states. She said she took that to mean he wanted her to sit up straight. However, she said she didn’t know what Taylor was doing with his phone under the table.
A teaching assistant who witnessed the episode said it appeared to her as if she saw Taylor was taking pictures or filming the girls with his phone while it was under the desk, but said she could not see his screen.
Investigators collected a photo one of the students took using the iPad that showed Taylor using his phone under the desk.
The photo was taken around the same time the deleted video was made, the warrant states.
More charges are possible as the investigation continues.
(Reporter Sarah Self-Walbrick contributed to this story)