Skip to main content

The Today File

Your guide to the latest news from around the Northwest

June 25, 2012 at 1:21 PM

Snoqualmie substitute teacher facing child-porn charges

A 64-year-old substitute teacher in the Snoqualmie School District has been charged with two counts of first-degree possession of child pornography for allegedly viewing and saving sexually explicit images on his computers as well as erotic writings about killing and decapitating children, according to King County prosecutors.

Theodore Bernstein of North Bend spent a little over an hour in the King County Jail on June 15 before he was released on personal recognizance, jail records show. He was charged Friday and is expected to be booked on $50,000 bail after his July 2 arraignment, court records show.

According to prosecutors, Bernstein not only possessed images of pre-pubescent girls and boys being sexually assaulted, but he also had journals “concerning the physical abuse, torture and murder of children.”

Bernstein came to the attention of North Bend police in May after a sergeant found a link to a child pornography website on Bernstein’s Facebook page, charging papers say. He was immediately suspended by the district, the papers say.

Bernstein initially claimed that someone else had posted the link on his page and allegedly deleted some of the images before turning his computers over to police, according to charging documents.

At least one of the girls pictured in the pornography allegedly found on Bernstein’s computer has been positively identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a child victim of pornography, charging papers say.

In addition to the child porn, police also found “poetry, stories or ramblings” about sex with young girls and violence or decapitation fantasies, also involving young girls, the papers say.

Bernstein, who does not have a criminal record, has been ordered not to have any contact with minor children, according to court documents.

Comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: child pornography, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, North Bend

About The Today File

The Today File is a general news blog featuring real-time coverage of Seattle and the Northwest. It is reported by the news staff of The Seattle Times and edited by Assistant Metro Editor Nick Provenza.

Please send feedback about this blog to webmaster@seattletimes.com, and direct news tips to newstips@seattletimes.com.

Advertising

Seattle Times Needle cam

Trending with readers

On Facebook

Recent Activity

Advertising

Multimedia

Advertising

Advertising

Your free access has ended.

Subscribe today for unlimited access! Our introductory rate of only 99¢ a week includes:

  • Unlimited access to seattletimes.com
  • Seattle Times smartphone and tablet Web apps
  • Daily Print Replica -- an exact digital copy of the newspaper
Subscription options

Already a subscriber?

Digital access is already included with your print subscription!

Log in with your MyTimes account:
Subscriber login

If you've never used MyTimes:
Register your subscription