Foshay band teacher charged with possession of child porn
A band teacher at Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles was charged Thursday with possessing child pornography on his personal laptop computer, authorities said.
Lief Arnesen Albaugh was arrested Wednesday evening by detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department’s juvenile division. The 27-year-old Los Angeles man posted $20,000 bail and was released at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate website.
Investigators found pornographic images of girls and boys on his laptop, which police seized from his home, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. She would not elaborate.
Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. David L. Brewer said he was told of the arrest Thursday.
“We are cooperating with the district attorney on this matter,” Brewer said. “We suspect that as a result of the Rooney case, there’s heightened awareness on the Foshay campus.”
Foshay, a middle school in South Los Angeles, already has been buffeted by accusations that its dean of students covered up a case in which former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney had a sexual relationship with a student there.
Rooney faces more than a dozen felony molestation-related counts involving two students from Markham Middle School in Watts and a former Foshay student.
The school district has come under intense criticism for its handling of the cases.
In February 2007, the LAPD told district officials that Rooney was suspected of having had sex with a Foshay student.
After initially putting Rooney in a desk job at a non-school site, school officials transferred him to Markham when prosecutors didn’t file charges.
That transfer appears to have violated district policy, which requires officials to conduct an independent investigation of abuse allegations before allowing a teacher or administrator who has been accused of sexual misconduct to return to a school.
Adding to that, the Foshay dean, who was identified by authorities in court as “Mr. Hubbard,” kept photos, notes and a scrapbook that documented the relationship between Rooney and the former Foshay student.
Among the materials presented by prosecutors in court last month were photos showing Rooney and the underage girl kissing.
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andrew.blankstein@ latimes.com
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