Westminster Teacher Arrested In Child Porn Investigation www.privateofficer.com

 

LAKEWOOD, Colo. July 26 2012– A Westminster middle school teacher has been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography, police said Tuesday.

Daniel Stephen Patterson, 35, who lives in Lakewood, was arrested Thursday by Lakewood police detectives on suspicion of felony sexual exploitation of a child, police said .

Patterson is a language arts teacher at Mandalay Middle School in Westminster, Lakewood police spokesman Steven Davis said in a news release The arrest happened after Denver police alerted Lakewood investigators that Patterson might possess several images of child pornography, Davis said.

Lakewood detectives executed a search warrant at Patterson’s residence in the 1900 block of Vance Street. Police said they recovered suspected child pornography from the home, and Patterson was arrested.

The juveniles in the images have not been identified, Davis said.

Patterson began teaching at Mandalay in August 2011, Davis said. Prior to that, Patterson was a teacher at Wheat Ridge Middle School from August 2009 until he transferred to Mandalay. He previously taught at North High School in Denver.

The case will be presented to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office for a formal charging decision.

Lakewood police asked anyone who may have information that would assist in the investigation to contact Detective Lovejoy at 303-987-7111.

In 2005, Patterson was arrested in a Denver domestic violence incident on a misdemeanor assault charge. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, according to court records.

In 2003, he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Littleton, and later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving while ability impaired, court records said.

Source:thedenverchannel.com