No evidence Delaware County child-porn suspect victimized students, D.A. says

Investigators have thus far found no evidence that David C. Devine, the teacher arrested Thursday on child-pornography charges, ever victimized local children under his supervision, Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green said Friday.

Green described the 500 images allegedly found on Devine's computer as pictures of young children engaged in sex acts, many with adults. But he said the images appeared to be ones that Devine allegedly found online and uploaded.

"It's that heinous kind of material that we have to review," Green said.

Devine, a first-grade teacher at Penn Wood Elementary School in the West Chester Area School District, was arrested Thursday after Delaware County authorities received a tip in April from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a local user had been uploading pornographic images of children.

Devine, who has admitted possessing the photographs, according to court documents, also ran Camp Flying Hawk, a small day camp in Delaware County. After his arrest, he was suspended from his teaching position.

The Delaware County District Attorney's Office has since received a number of phone calls from parents and community members, some of them neighbors of Devine concerned for their children's safety, Green said.

He said his office would oppose returning Devine to his residence in Upper Providence, across the street from Rose Tree Elementary School, if he posted $25,000 bail.

As investigators continue their probe, they will be working with the source of their original tip. The organization serves as a clearinghouse concerning child pornography, including about 3,000 photographs of children who have been identified and removed from harm's way.

"Many of the child-pornography images that have been circulating on the Internet have been circulating for a long time," said Michelle Collins, vice president of the center's exploited-children division.

"What we do is, working in cooperation with law enforcement, we review the photos to determine if there are any children who have been previously identified."

Analysts will review the photos allegedly found on Devine's computer to help law enforcement identify the children depicted.

Collins said police would closely examine the photos the center has not identified, looking for clues in the background - foreign electrical sockets, license plates, any identifying information - to try to locate where the photos were taken.

"The digital technology has changed how quickly the images spread and continue to multiply," Collins said. "And what investigators are challenged to do is figure out where on Earth those images were produced."

Parents at Penn Wood Elementary were horrified.

"I was really shocked. He seemed like a really dynamic teacher," said Joyce Monigal, former Home and School president at Penn Wood. Her son, now a sixth grader, did not have Devine for a teacher, but Monigal said parents liked him, whether their children were in his class or participants in a field day that he ran.

"He did a lot at the school. He incorporated music into his classroom and had a lot of neat things going on," she said.

Devine, hired in December 2008, was one of four first- grade teachers, and the only male. He seemed like a good role model on a largely female teaching staff, she said.

Monigal has not told her son about the case. What, if anything, to say to younger children is the most common question the school district has been getting, said Rob Partridge, a spokesman.

The school has received about 15 calls, Partridge said. On Friday, counselors were available at Penn Wood Elementary for anyone who wanted to discuss the issue or talk about how to explain it to their children.

Partridge said that a search for Devine's replacement had not started, but that the timing of his suspension - during the summer - gave the district time.