A former Bethesda preschool teacher pled guilty today to producing child pornography by filming his sexual abuse of several five-year-old students while teaching in Japan, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
James Douglas Manring, 54, of Fredricksburg, Va., pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography for bringing films of himself performing sexual acts on students while teaching at a preschool in Japan from 1996 until 1999.
Manring, who faces up to 40 years in prison, returned to the U.S. in 1999, according to a statement of facts and other court records. Manring taught preschool in Bethesda before he was arrested on Nov. 13, 2012, according to the press release.
Police say they discovered Manring had purchased approximately 46 “naturist” videos showing “graphic and simulated lascivious exhibition of the genitals and pubic areas of minor boys” from New York.
Prosecutors said the case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006. This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division’s Child Exploitation Investigations.
