NAVASOTA, Texas — A teacher from Navasota High School has been arrested for the distribution and possession of child pornography, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani and the United States Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Texas.
29-year-old Daniel Byrd of College Station was arrested by authorities on Thursday, March 23. Prior to the arrest, he was a teacher at Navasota High School.
Recently, Navasota ISD provided a statement to KAGS about the arrest.
"The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority, and we take all allegations of misconduct very seriously. We cannot provide any details at this time as the investigation is ongoing, but we want to assure our community that we are cooperating fully with law enforcement to determine the facts of this matter.
At this point in the investigation, Navasota ISD has no reason to believe that any students or other staff members have been involved and that this may be an investigation into personal matters. However, we will continue to cooperate fully with authorities throughout further investigation."
Authorities say they were made aware of a folder containing child pornography in a Kik chat group. Byrd was allegedly in control of the folder, according to the press release.
Authorities also say Byrd used both Kik and Telegram to view and download child pornographic content, and even joined groups dedicated to sharing and downloading the content to his MEGA account. Additionally, Byrd allegedly posted links from the MEGA account into the groups to allow others to access the folders, according to the release.
If convicted, Byrd will face up to 20 years in prison for distribution of child pornography and up to 10 years in prison for the possession of the content for a potential maximum of 30 years behind bars.