A former Ledyard school employee was arrested on Friday on child pornography charges. According to court records, he told police he started looking at porn about five years ago, when he had problems with his wife.
Webster Holland worked as a technology paraprofessional for Ledyard Public Schools for more than a year. He was let go from his job on Dec. 6, 2013, for reasons unrelated to his arrest, according to a letter from the Board of Education sent to parents on Friday.
Police began an investigation a week after Holland left the school system after IT personnel discovered what police called "questionable" pictures on a computer at the school.
The computer was turned over to the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory to be examined and nude images were found among 56 gigabytes of deleted information, according to police.
Three hundred twenty-nine images were found, and most were of girls under the age of 16, according to the arrest warrant.
Police took Holland into custody on Friday, and he is being held on $50,000 bond.
He is being represented by a public defender and appeared in court on Monday. His next court date is set for May 28. His public defender had no comment on the charges on Monday.
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In the letter to parents, the school board said it is cooperating with the investigation.
"We share the concern that parents and the public at large will have in receiving this news. As a school district, Ledyard upholds high standards of our staff and anyone working with children," the letter stated.
Holland is charged with first-degree possession of child pornography.
According to an arrest warrant application, Holland provided police with a written statement that said he began looking at porn five years ago after he had problems with his wife.
His wife told him to stop, but he moved the files to a thumb drive and downloaded them on a work computer, according to the warrant.
