California High School Coach Accused of Compensating Students for Explicit Photos

December 19, 2024 TruthUSA

A staff member at a high school in San Jose, California, has been arraigned in federal court for allegedly enticing students to create child pornography intended for sale.

A teaching assistant and coach at a Christian school in California faces arraignment in federal court for charges involving the enticement of minors and the receipt of child sexual abuse materials.

Todd Baldwin, 44, was employed at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, holding roles as a sports coach, teaching assistant, and operations manager. Between December 2022 and August 2023, Baldwin purportedly paid two boys, along with at least two other students, thousands of dollars through app-based payment services to create child pornography for online sale. The complaint states that Baldwin referred to the victims as his “Teacher Assistants.”

Authorities formally charged him on October 10 and again “by information” on November 19. Charging “by information” means that the defendant is officially accused of crimes without the need for a grand jury’s convening.

The official charges against Baldwin include two counts of enticing minors and two counts of receiving child pornography.

Baldwin, who currently resides in Bremerton, Washington, allegedly persuaded two high school boys to produce explicit materials for monetary compensation. According to a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, one of the boys, aged 17 at the time of the offenses, approached Baldwin to inquire about work opportunities to earn money.

Baldwin allegedly suggested that the boy take pornographic photographs of himself, which Baldwin would sell on the social media platform Reddit, with plans to split the profits. Payments were allegedly made to the boy via the mobile payment app Venmo.

The boy produced photographs and videos weekly for several weeks, sending them to Baldwin through Snapchat and Gmail. Allegedly, Baldwin purchased a ring light for the boy to enhance the quality of the images and videos.

Baldwin also reportedly organized a photo shoot in his office at Valley Christian, where he took sexually explicit pictures of the boy, who was compensated with several hundred dollars for the session.

The first boy informed another student from Live Oak High School in San Jose about his arrangement with Baldwin. The second boy, then 16, reached out to Baldwin through Snapchat and subsequently sent him 20 images or videos two to three times a week, receiving $2,500 via Venmo for his contributions.

In August 2023, Baldwin consented to an interview with detectives from the San Jose Police Department, where he acknowledged receiving pornographic images and videos from both boys as well as two additional students from Valley Christian High School.

Baldwin voluntarily surrendered to federal authorities in San Jose on October 28, 2024, and appeared in court later that day. He is currently released under conditional terms and is scheduled for his next court appearance on February 4, 2025.

If convicted, Baldwin could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with a minimum of 10 years, along with fines reaching up to $250,000.

Baldwin’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times by the time of publication.

An investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Jose Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Squad led to this case against the former faculty member.

According to an October 2022 report from the nonprofit organization Thorn, which works against child abuse, one in six minors aged 9 to 17 have shared self-generated explicit images. Furthermore, one in five minors have reported seeing non-consensually shared explicit content. A report from Common Sense indicated that 54% of youth were exposed to explicit online content for the first time by the age of 13.

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