High school teacher charged with possessing child porn
CLEVELAND — A Medina high school teacher is accused of possessing child pornography and speaking with an undercover federal agent about meeting up to have sex with a fictitious 14-year-old girl.
Kevin Hedrick, a social studies teacher at Medina High School, is charged in federal court in Cleveland with possessing child pornography. He surrendered to authorities on Friday, according to court filings unsealed on Monday.
Hedrick, 37, has been on paid leave since Oct. 24, after investigators subpoenaed information fromtheschool that ultimately showed Hedrick accessed his Kik account using the district’s internet, court records say.
Hedrick’s attorney, Don Malarcik, said Hedrick resigned Monday from the school. Malarcik said he also expected the Ohio Department of Education to take action at some point on Hedrick’s license, but that hasn’t yet happened.
Hedrick’s case was bound over to a federal grand jury on Monday after a hearing in front of U.S. District Magistrate Judge Amanda Knapp in Akron. Knapp ordered Hedrick detained until a hearing on Friday.
An FBI investigation later found child pornography on Hedrick’s Kik account, according to court records.
The investigation started in October when Hedrick started chatting with an undercover U.S. Secret Service agent on a Kik chatroom called “Ohio Chastity Key Holders,” court records say. Hedrick responded to the post after the agent posted a message that said “I have 2 daughters,” court records say.
The agent posed as a 28-year-old woman with a 14-year-old daughter and asked Hedrick if he was interested in having sex with her and the teen.
Hedrick, in the messages, described in detail sex acts he wanted to perform. He told the agent that he had never had sex with anyone underage, but that he had relationships with two students after they had graduated, according to court records.
Hedrick and the agent agreed to meet in October at a hotel in Columbus, but Hedrick never went, according to the filings. He wrote in a message to the agent that he backed out because he had COVID-19.
In another message, he sent a partial selfie to the agent and asked for one in return. Agents matched the date with surveillance video from the high school that showed Hedrick wearing the same clothes.
FBI agents subpoenaed records from his internet account and social media platforms and found he had five images or videos of child pornography on his Kik account. They depicted children from 7 to 13 years old, according to court records.
Agents later searched his phone and other electronic devices and found he sent or received 719 images and 281 videos containing pornography. The agent estimated that those depicted in the images ranged in age from 13 to 19 years old.
On Oct. 26, FBI agents searched Hedrick’s home in New Franklin. Hedrick admitted to agents that he messaged the woman and wanted to have sex with the 14-year-old girl. He told agents that the conversations were only a fantasy, according to court records.