Buena Park School District Board President Dennis Brian Chambers was charged Friday with possession and distribution of child pornography.
Chambers, who was being held on $250,000 bail, made his first court appearance Friday, when his arraignment was rescheduled for May 5. He is charged with one felony count each of possession and distribution of child pornography and he faces a sentencing enhancement allegation for possessing more than 600 images and 10 or more images involving a prepubescent minor, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Chambers was arrested Wednesday at his home by Fontana police, who are investigating the case.
The probe stems from a tip from authorities in Flathead County, Montana, that the school board president was distributing the child pornography in Fontana, according to Fontana police Sgt. Kevin Goltara.
Chambers, 50, lives in Buena Park, but he has a job with a pest control company so that might have taken him out to Fontana, where the child pornography was being electronically distributed, Goltara said.
It’s possible the pornography was distributed through a public WiFi connection at a store in Fontana, he said.
When Fontana police executed the search warrant at Chambers’ residence they found an electronic storage device containing thousands of pornographic videos and pictures involving children, Goltara said.
Investigators are working to determine if he came in contact with any of the children portrayed in the images, Goltara said.
Buena Park School District Superintendent Greg Magnuson called Chambers’ arrest “certainly shocking and greatly disturbing for all of us in the Buena Park School District.”
School officials will “fully support the police as they continue their investigation,” Magnuson said.
Chambers always had adult staff members with him when he came into contact with students on the district’s campuses, Magnuson said.
If Chambers is released on bail, he will be encouraged to “refrain from attending school functions or being on any of our school campuses,” the superintendent said.
Chambers cannot be kicked off the school board unless he is convicted, but he could be censured by the rest of the board members, Magnuson said.
— City News Service