Ex-Liberty substitute pleads not guilty to child porn charges

WARREN

Michael R. Mattocks, 31, a former Liberty High School substitute teacher, pleaded not guilty Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to 10 child pornography charges.

Bond for Mattocks, of Stonington Drive in Liberty, was set at $5,000 by Judge W. Wyatt McKay. Mattocks was booked into the Trumbull County jail Thursday morning after he was secretly indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury.

A Liberty police report says two students of Mattocks at Liberty High School discovered photos on Mattocks’ personal computer Jan. 12 while Mattocks was out of the classroom that showed Mattocks and females without clothing.

The students had permission to use his computer but not to view his personal files, police said.

All 10 of Mattocks’ charges are second-degree felonies, which each carry a possible prison sentence of eight years if convicted.

The charges accuse Mattocks of engaging in the conduct from Jan. 1, 2015, through Jan. 17, 2017.

Some of the charges relate to allegations that Mattocks encouraged female students to send him nude photos of themselves and that the photos found on the computer were of those students.

Mattocks was a substitute teacher at the high school last school year, filling in for a teacher who had gone on an extended absence, but he was let go as soon as these allegations surfaced, Liberty Superintendent Joe Nohra said.

Read more about the case in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.