A Lincoln High School teacher has been arraigned on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Nickolas Turpen-Arends, 40, who taught culinary arts at the high school, faces three felony charges following his Sept. 22 arrest. California Highway Patrol officers searched his Stockton home on that day and found more than 65,000 images that authorities say show children involved in sexual acts.
The charges lodged against Turpen-Arends include felony counts of possession of matter depicting sexual conduct of a person under age 18, possession of obscene images of a minor in a sexual act and distribution of matter depicting a child in a sexual act.
“As a former Lodi School Board member, it is deeply infuriating whenever the safety and innocence of our children are threatened, and allegations of child sexual abuse material hit at the very core of what we must protect,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement.
CHP officials said Turpen-Arends’ arrest came after a monthslong investigation by its Computer Crimes Investigation Unit into a single IP address, the unique code assigned to a digital device accessing a network. Officers said they uncovered pornographic materials on Turpen-Arends’ desktop computer.
Lincoln school officials are cooperating with the investigation, CHP authorities said.
KCRA-TV reported at the time of his arrest that Turpen-Arends was in his second year of employment by the Lincoln Unified School District and was on leave.
“To date, the District is not aware of any allegation and has no information suggesting that any District student is involved,” Lincoln Unified told KCRA at the time. “Since this is a confidential personnel matter and the investigation is ongoing, the District is unable to comment further at this time.”