Former teacher pleads guilty to child porn

By Joe Gorman | January 14, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A former part-time teacher entered guilty pleas Tuesday to 12 counts involving child pornography.

Paul Rektor, 35, of Hollywood Avenue, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to three charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material and nine counts of pandering obscenity.

All of the charges are second-degree felonies.

Sentencing will take place at 11 a.m. March 15 before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.

In exchange for his pleas, prosecutors dropped 20 of the pandering counts, which were fourth-degree felonies.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said Rektor was indicted in October by a grand jury after an investigation that began when a city policewoman uploaded from Rektor’s computer several videos and images of child pornography as part of an investigation.

Police obtained a search warrant and found 149 images and videos of child pornography on Rektor’s computer, McLaughlin said.

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 10 years, but Damian Billak, one of Rektor’s attorneys, said he will be arguing for a lesser sentence at the sentencing hearing.

The total maximum sentence for all the charges to which Rektor pleaded guilty is 96 years.

Rektor had been a part-time teacher at Youngstown Christian School but was laid off in June. The school said in a statement in October that Rektor had never interacted with students unless it was in a group setting, and that he passed all required background checks. They also never received any complaints of inappropriate behavior about him, the school said.

Rektor will remain in the Mahoning County jail pending his sentencing.