A Catholic school volunteer and retired public school teacher is facing 10 counts of child pornography charges after a year long investigation.
Thomas J. DeFazio, 68, of Kenosha, was arrested this week by the investigatory division of Wisconsin Department of Justice. He appeared in and charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography.
According to the criminal complaint, the charges are related to 10 specific images found on DeFazio’s computer hard drives. In each of the images, girls described as appearing to be of prepubescent age are posing in clothing, but partially exposed. There are no sex acts depicted in the images described in the complaint.
The criminal complaint states that DeFazio, a retired middle school teacher from the Racine Unified School District, was volunteering at All Saints Catholic School in Kenosha. The principal at the school contacted investigators after staff and school parents became concerned about images DeFazio was liking and commenting on Facebook.
The images depicted girls that appeared to be of middle school age, according to the complaint. The principal spoke with DeFazio, then contacted the state.
Investigators spoke with DeFazio in September 2015, and were given permission to study his computers at that time. DeFazio told investigators, according to the complaint, that he did not believe the images he had on his computer were pornography.
DeFazio’s bond was set at $5,000.
