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John Stelmach was booked into the Polk County Jail under $100,000 bond. (slideshow)
LAKELAND (Bay News 9) -- The principal of a Lakeland elementary school was arrested Friday on child pornography charges.
John Stelmack, 60, of Scott Lake Elementary School, is charged with five counts of possession of child pornography.
Sheriff's detectives said they started investigating Stelmack once the school district suspended him last week.
The school board had concerns Stelmack was too huggy with students.
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Then investigators said they found five images of girls superimposed on images of older nude bodies in the Stelmack's brief case.
"And you put a child's face onto a nude body you've just created child pornography," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
Judd said Stelmack used a legitimate picture of a student who attended his school last year to make some of the child porn.
Judd said there's no evidence Stelmack actually took any inappropriate pictures of his students.
Some parents said they're shocked after hearing the news.
"It's devastating," said parent Stacy Willaims. "It's horrible."
"Total shock. Dismay," said parent Chris Germain. "He was a wonderful principal."
Some parents wonder if they should have been more concerned.
"He's very touchy feely, huggy with the children as far as just hugging them in the morning, saying hello, greeting them," Williams said. "My initial thought was, which a lot of parents had, possibly he was just being overly friendly and maybe some parents took it the wrong way."
"And you know, if you can't trust the principal at the elementary school then how many people is left to trust," Judd said.
Sheriff's investigators searched Stelmack's home Friday for more possible evidence.
Judd said this is the first time his office has arrested someone on charges they merged a child's image with a nude photo to create child porn.
Stelmack was booked into the Polk County jail on $100,000 bond.
Polk Sheriff's investigators said they're checking with investigators in New York, where Stelmack previously worked, to see if he faced any similar accusations there.
The Polk County Sheriff's office has been conducting an investigation, which is ongoing, in cooperation with the Polk County School Board.
Earlier this year, another school principal was arrested on serious charges.
In February, Van Buren Middle School in Tampa principal Anthony Giancola was arrested in the school lobby after buying $20 worth of crack from an undercover police officer in his office.
In June, he pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to about a year behind bars and three years probation. He was also ordered to forfeit his teaching certificate.
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