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Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009

Child porn case against ex-Paris High teacher sent to grand jury

PARIS — A Bourbon County District judge sent to a grand jury Wednesday the case of a former Paris High School teacher facing child-pornography charges.

If Kenneth R. Shadoan, 30, of Carlisle is indicted by the county grand jury, the case will probably be transferred to federal court, authorities said.

Shadoan was charged under a federal arrest warrant after Paris police said they found about two dozen child pornography videos on a compact disc in his truck. The videos, showing minors having sex, were "mailed, shipped or transported in interstate commerce," according to a federal criminal complaint.

Authorities found the CDs as part of an investigation that was launched after a mother of one of Shadoan's students complained that he had "solicited sexual favors" from her son, Paris police detective James Primm testified Wednesday.

During the preliminary hearing, Primm testified that Shadoan had asked the 17-year-old male Paris High student to send a nude photo of himself to Shadoan's cell phone.

Primm was not asked in court but said later outside that the teen sent the photo because Shadoan had indicated that he would give the student a higher grade in exchange for the photo.

No charges have been filed in connection with Shadoan's dealings with the student.

The teen attempted suicide on May 9 by slashing his wrists and taking pills after an argument with his girlfriend, who had discovered the photo on his cell phone, Primm testified.

The boy and Shadoan had exchanged about 300 text messages between May 4 and May 9, Primm said. Six photos also were exchanged.

The boy later confirmed to police that Shadoan had solicited sex, Primm said. "He said Shadoan would like to perform oral sex" on him, Primm testified.

When police searched Shadoan's Chevrolet pickup, they found 21 compact discs, and one contained videos of child pornography, Primm said. Those led to the federal charges.

The videos, viewed by Primm and the cyber crime unit of the state Attorney General's office, depicted children ages 6 to 9 having sex with one another, Primm said.

Investigators with the cyber crime unit said they had seen some of the videos before because they had been distributed online from Russia, Primm said.

Paris police arrested Shadoan May 13 on 25 counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor.

Shadoan taught at Paris High School about three years. His contract has been terminated, according to court documents.

In August 2005, he was charged and later acquitted of first-degree sodomy in Whitley County; he had been accused of having deviant sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old man by forcible compulsion.

Shadoan was a teacher with the Pulaski County schools from 2002 to 2005, but he was fired after Kentucky State Police notified school officials about the charge against him, assistant school superintendent Steve Butcher said.

Shadoan remains in the Bourbon County jail in lieu of a $20,000 bond.