An elementary school janitor has been arrested after he allegedly gave an 11-year-old girl candy, gifts and notes as her “secret admirer” — and was also caught with dozens of photos of child pornography on his cellphone.
Ethan Colpetzer, a 30-year-old custodian at Claysburg-Kimmel Elementary School in Pennsylvania, “singled out” a young girl by asking other staff members her name — and was caught taking pictures of students in the cafeteria, WTAJ reported.
After receiving gifts for a month from a “secret admirer,” the girl left a note asking for her admirer’s name — to which he wrote back “Ethan.”
The response garnered the teacher’s attention because there were no students by that name, prosecutors said.
While investigating Colpetzer, police learned there had been an incident during which another employee caught him taking photos of students in the cafeteria, including a “zoomed-in” photo of the 11-year-old girl “bent over” at the lunch table.
A school resource officer who examined Colpetzer’s phone then discovered a photo of an unidentified nude child, prompting the school to notify authorities. A complete search of his phone uncovered 74 photos of young children performing sexual acts, including one image depicting bestiality.
Colpetzer admitted to police he had saved the images from the Internet. He also admitted to leaving the gifts and candy for the 11-year-old girl.
Police arrested Colpetzer on March 7. He was arraigned and jailed in Blair County Prison with bail set at $100,000.
Colpetzer has been charged with sexual abuse of children for possessing the images of child pornography.
Claysburg-Kimmel School District said in a statement that Colpetzer was placed on leave from his job at the district’s elementary school, which includes students from kindergarten to sixth grade.
School district officials told WTAJ: “We are disturbed and disheartened by the information included in the allegations and wish to note that we have not received any further reports or other information suggesting that any Claysburg-Kimmel School District student was made subject to any form of inappropriate contact other than that which has already been reported.”
“We share in the District Attorney’s commendation of our staff whose vigilance and prompt reporting of the matter allowed for investigation and appropriate action to be taken as quickly as possible.”