A 72-year-old man, who has taught in the Northshore School District, was arrested in Woodinville Wednesday by the Kirkland Police Department for allegedly possessing child pornography.
“Providing a safe, secure learning environment for students and staff is our top priority, and we are cooperating fully with police in their active investigation,” Northshore School District Communications Director Leanna Albrecht said. “[The man] has been an elementary substitute teacher for the district since 2000. During that time, there have been no reported incidents of questionable conduct with students.”
Kurt Kasner brought his computer into @TD Curran in Kirkland to be repaired on Oct. 3. The computer was sent to a technician in Issaquah to be cleaned when the child pornography was found, according to court documents. The owner of the business contacted the Kirkland Police Department four days later after finding large amounts of photographs.
Employees told Kasner that the computer would take longer than expected to fix to give police time to investigate, the documents continue.
Police contacted the man on Oct. 15 at his home and executed a search warrant. Kirkland detectives found hard drives and CDs full of images and are searching through the photos to try and identify any victims locally.
Policed questioned Kasner about the child pornography and he allegedly admitted it was his.
The man said he had been looking at child pornography all his life, the documents continue. He admitted to entering “incest” into search engines to obtain the images of 10- to 15-year-old children.
“I have always been fascinated by images of children,” Kasner told police. “… [it’s a] victimless crime because there were no real people involved and it was just in his head.”
Kasner admitted to downloading child pornography the morning of the search on his iPad.
During the search he told police he never had physical contact with any children but that he just “used his imagination.”
Later, Kasner allegedly confessed to police that he molested two boys, according to court documents. The first was in 1976 when he molested a 15-year-old boy while he served as a “Big Brother” in California. The boy never reported the incident. Kasner said that the second time was in the late 1970s and he was “pretty sure” that was the last time, the documents continue. Kasner worked as a school teacher in California for 30 years before becoming a substitute with the Northshore School District.
Albrecht said that the man mainly substituted in grades 3-6 in the subjects of music, physical education or in the library. All employees and volunteers with the district undergo background checks with the district.
Kasner made his first court appearance on Thursday, where a judge set his bail for $500,000 and a second court appearance on Monday.
The case will also be investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.
