Ex- schools worker faces child-porn charges

took place from late March 2013 through February of this year in northeastern Ohio “and elsewhere,” without elaborating.

According to the FBI’s Cleveland office, Shonk had computer files containing “visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and which files had been shipped and transported in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce.”

Between May 19 and June 19 this year, Shonk also allegedly possessed two USB digital storage devices that contained child pornography. Law enforcement sources said he lost these devices after accidentally leaving them on top of his car and driving off, after which they were found and turned over to police.

Among the items discovered were nude photos sent electronically by students to their classmates over a Rootstown school network, a law enforcement source told GateHouse Media Ohio.

The case was investigated by a Canton Police Department officer assigned to the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force and the Jackson Township Police Department, the FBI said.

Shonk resigned June 26 as assistant network manager for the Hudson City Schools, where he was making $54,000 per year, according to his personnel file. Hudson school officials said none of the charges or conduct involve students there.

Before that, Shonk was the technology coordinator for the Rootstown School District from July 2007 to May 2012, and with the Portage County Educational Service Center from October 2002 until July 2007, according to the resume in his personnel file.

Shonk earned an associate’s degree in middle childhood education from Kent State University in May 2004 and graduated from Alliance High School prior to that.