Yellow Springs teacher was investigated for months

UPDATE @ 5:04 p.m. (Feb. 17): Benjamin Trumbull, the Yellow Springs fourth-grade teacher, was the focus of a investigation involving child pornography for two months before his arrest Friday morning in Columbus, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Trumbull, 48, was arrested after the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a child pornography search warrant at 5 a.m. Sheriff’s investigators said they found hundreds of digital videos depicting very young children engaging in sexual activity with other children and adults.

UPDATE @ 11:26 a.m. (Feb. 15): Benjamin Trumbull was arraigned on Saturday in Franklin County Municipal Court, where he pleaded not guilty to felony pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.

Trumbull posted bail after the court hearing and has been released from the Franklin County Jail. Bond was set at $35,085.

The charge involves a file on his computer, according to court records. A preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 23.

FIRST REPORT

A fourth-grade school teacher for the Yellow Springs schools district is expected to be in a Columbus courtroom Saturday to answer to a sex-related charge involving a minor.

Benjamin Trumbull, on the faculty at Mills Lawn School, was arrested Friday and detained in the Franklin County Jail on a felony county of pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor. He has been immediately suspended from all of his school duties involving children, district Superintendent Mario Basora said in a letter sent to parents and guardians Friday evening.

In the letter, Basora said, “Law enforcement has informed the [school] District that it does not appear that any Yellow Springs School District students were depicted in any of the sexually-oriented matter allegedly found in the possession of Mr. Trumbull.”

Basora also said in the letter that Trumbull has been instructed to have no contact with any students or staff, “nor to enter upon any school district property.”

All parents of the children currently in Trumbull’s class have been called, Basora said in the letter.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, Trumbull has no disciplinary records on file.

Court records indicate Trumbull lives in Columbus. There were no details about where he was arrested.

Trumbull is to be arraigned Saturday morning in Franklin County Municipal Court.

— Staff Writer Jen Roppel contributed to the reporting of this breaking news story.

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