UTAH COUNTY -- A teacher in the Alpine School District has been arrested on charges relating to child pornography.
Google and other Internet companies are cracking down on people who spread the illegal images.
Police say when 54-year-old Edward Greene allegedly uploaded child porn images to his Google account it put into a motion an investigation involving of several agencies.
Police wound up confronting the teacher across state lines.
"When illegal images are uploaded it triggers some type of alarm. The images are sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited children," said Sgt. Jason Randall, with the Utah County Sheriff's Office special victims unit.
NCMEC then notified Utah's Internet Crimes against Children task force who then called the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Police began tracing an I-P address belonging to Ed Greene, a fifth grade teacher at Westfield Elementary in Alpine.
Police don't believe school computers were involved. They allege the crimes happened at Greene's home in Spanish Fork. Police say he uploaded the images on his home computer three times during the month of May.
On June 10, officers served a search warrant at the residence.
"I seriously would not ever believe that,” said neighbor Heather Randall. “He is the nicest person ever and I would completely trust him."
Greene wasn't home at the time of the search. He was with family in Lewisville, Texas where police seized his phone and tablet, then mailed the items to Utah County investigators who examined them, finding, "...a total of 10 images of child pornography. These images depict pre-pubescent and young teen boys," according to a probable cause statement.
"I really hope it hasn't gone beyond his computer," Kelly said.
Randall said police have no evidence that there are local victims at this time.
However, officers continue to investigate that possibility.
Meanwhile, Greene has bailed out of the Utah County Jail and the Alpine School District has put him on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.
“It affects all of us,” said district spokesman John Patten. “It's very unfortunate that he's put himself in that position. We feel sad for him and his family."
Ed Greene is now facing several potential charges for exploiting a minor. He's been with the Alpine School District six years, passed a background check and has never been disciplined.
According to the probable cause statement, he’s admitted viewing images of child pornography.
