A local teacher at a Farmers Branch private school was arrested by police on Monday for the alleged possession of child pornography.
Following his arrest, Parish Episcopal School suspended 31-year-old Brandon Froning from his employment and barred him from campus pending an investigation.
“There is no escaping the distressing nature of this news,” wrote Interim Head of School Michelle Lyon in a letter to parents. She claimed that the charges Froning is facing had to do with “online misconduct and [did] not involve any current or former Parish students.”
Lyon further claimed that Parish Episcopal conducted background checks on Froning, ensuring he did not have a background as a criminal or sex offender.
Froning is currently being held at Dallas County Jail on a $50,000 bond, according to jail records.
“We are cooperating fully in this investigation and will continue to share news of developments in this case as necessary as we are updated by the authorities,” concluded Lyon’s letter to parents.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Froning previously worked as a kindergarten teacher in Katy, Texas, and spent six years prior teaching in Indiana.
While child pornography cases are not tracked on the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard, they fall within the category of “Pornography/Obscene Material.” Incidents in this category spiked by roughly 47% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Related crimes like abduction and human trafficking offenses are also prevalent in Dallas, where the city council has failed to address the city’s crime problem, despite the best efforts of local law enforcement agencies.
The Dallas Express reached out to the Dallas Police Department (DPD) and asked how the department is tackling the specific issue of child pornography.
Senior Corporal Brian E. Martinez, a department spokesperson, explained that DPD set up an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which “investigated more than 22,000 cyber-tips received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2022.”
“Additionally, the task force regularly conducts proactive investigations into the possession, distribution, and production of child sexual abuse material and other forms of exploitation of children online,” Martinez said.
DPD’s ICAC Task Force also offers classes to parents and children on internet safety awareness, the goal of which is to reduce the likelihood that children would be exposed to child predators, according to the task force’s website.