Roland Yockell II was arrested on Tuesday on child pornography charges
A New York kindergarten teacher has been arrested on child pornography charges after police discovered a haul of photographs of young girls and children’s underwear stuffed in his mattress.
Roland Yockel II, 30, was arrested at his home in upstate Hilton, upstate New York, on Tuesday after officers stormed his home.
He was a teacher at Ginther School where he had a class of 21 children.
Police honed in on him after discovering his messages on Chatstep, an app which is commonly used by pedophiles to distribute child pornography.
Once they had tracked down his IP address, detectives obtained a search warrant which was carried out on Tuesday.
Inside his home, police discovered pornographic videos of girls as young as four and underwear which Yockel had stolen from children’s backpacks at the summer camp where he worked.
He had hidden the garments underneath his mattress.
Upon questioning, he told police he had never molested any children but watched them as they swam at the summer camp in the hope that their bathing suits would reveal their genitals.
He also admitted to playing a ‘game’ with a child who was babysat by his mother by which he would lift the child up so that he could see her genitals.
His mother Laurie runs a childcare service at their home.
Police documents which were obtained by WHEC claim he told police the only reason he never touched her was because others were in the room at the time and would have seen him.
Yockel lived in this home in Hilton, upstate New York, with his parents. His mother runs a babysitting service from the home and he admitted to police that he ‘liked’ one young girl she looked after and would have touched her inappropriately if they had been left alone
He insisted he never touched any of the children he taught for the Brockport School District because he said his job meant too much to him to risk it.
Alongside the videos of young girls, Yockel also admitted to trading a sexual video with a 15-year-old girl.
Neither of his parents face any charges. Yockel now faces 20 years imprisonment if convicted of receipt of child pornography.
Brockport School District has placed Yockel on administrative leave.
They say they are confident he never touched any students but they are urging parents to speak to their children.
Police are also examining whether he may have come into contact with any other children.