John Stelmack of Lakeland, Fla., formerly an elementary school
principal in Olean, N.Y., was arrested Friday and charged with
possession of child pornography.

Stelmack, 60, was working as the principal of Scott Lake
Elementary School in Lakeland. On Dec. 14, he was suspended by the
Polk County School Board “for an administrative investigation,”
according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

During the investigation, school officials seized a briefcase
from Stelmack’s office. On Wednesday, the school board
superintendent contacted the sheriff’s office in regards to what
was found in the briefcase.

“Inside the briefcase were five images of child pornography
created by Stelmack,” reads a release from the sheriff’s office.
“Stelmack took routine photographs of children in a school setting
– one of whom was positively identified as a 10-year-old student
who attended Scott Lake Elementary last year – and digitally
superimposed their heads onto nude images.”

The girl’s face was placed on four images of naked adolescents.
The fifth photo has an unknown female child’s face transposed on
the body of another nude image, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities are working with New York State law enforcement to try
to identify the child.

Public Information Officer Carrie Rodgers explained late Friday
that police searched Stelmack’s home at 5749 Deer Track Trail Road
and seized a laptop and desktop computer.

“We will continue searching those until after the Christmas
holiday,” Rodgers said. “If anything is found, we will go after him
with more charges.”

Stelmack is being held in Polk County Jail on ,100,000 bond.

“The photographs that Stelmack manipulated into child
pornography are graphic and repulsive,” Judd said. “To think that a
school principal, someone who is entrusted with the safety and
well-being of hundreds of school children, would do something like
this is incomprehensible.”

Stelmack is the former principal of East View Elementary School
in Olean. He resigned in 2004 and went to work as the principal of
an elementary school in Ellicott, N.Y., from where he resigned in
2006. He had also worked in a Buffalo, N.Y., school from 1999 to
2004 and had taught for 13 years in the Elmira, N.Y., school
district.

As of Friday, Stelmack was reportedly on administrative leave
with pay – in 2006, he earned ,75,716, according to a Florida
newspaper. His position oversees 788 students at Scott Lake
Elementary, according to the district’s Web site.