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Former NEO school employee accused of saving social media pictures of students

Posted at 7:57 PM, Jul 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-05 11:54:31-04

A 36-year old man is facing child pornography charges who used to work in at least two different Northeast Ohio school districts.

The superintendent of Rootstown Local School District says federal investigators told him that Andrew Shonk, a former technology specialist, had naked pictures of Rootstown students. Shonk was assigned to Rootstown schools from 2006-2012 while working for the Portage County Education Service Center.

In 2013, Shonk started working for Hudson Schools. The superintendent there says federal investigators have not found Shonk had any naked pictures of Hudson students, but that the former Assistant Network Manager did "seek and save photographs from social media sites and the FBI has indicated some of those social media photos are of Hudson students."

Parents say they're disgusted by the accusations.

"It's horrible, I know," said Liz Cross, mother of a sixth-grader and a Hudson sophomore.  "This is such a good community and then to hear something like that happen, it's scary."

Kim Miller says it reinforces the need to remind students to be careful what they post on social media.

"I think it's important to look through and have a conversation with your child and look through the devices that they use," Miller said.

Shonk was placed on administrative leave after Hudson Schools learned of the federal investigation last week. He then resigned.   

Shonk is charged with pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance. His bond was set at $1 million.