A former D.C. teacher was arrested Monday and accused of possessing child sexual abuse material.
Devonne Keith Brown, 56, worked at IDEA Public Charter School in Northeast D.C. as a health teacher and with the school’s track club.
The school confirmed to WTOP that Brown does not work there anymore, but did not specify when he stopped working there.
In November 2024, an employee with the American technology company Block Inc. reported a potential case of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The employee shared that a 15-year-old girl had received at least $10 from Brown with a payment comment alluding to communication through Instagram direct messages, according to charging documents. In total, court documents state 36 transactions were made to the girl between February and September of 2024.
A second child also received over $120 from Brown on CashApp with payment comments such as “lunch donation” and “for breakfast, text me on instagram message wont work.”
“The payment patterns combined with the inability to establish a legitimate relationship between Brown and the minors suggests that Brown was grooming the minors,” and purchasing child sexual abuse materials online, the employee said in a statement to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The 15-year-old girl told detectives with the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force that she had met Brown, who went by the fake name “Joseph,” in a Giant grocery store near her home and he sent her money for ice cream. She then communicated with Brown over Instagram and iMessage and, after a week, was asked to send him nude photos of herself, according to court documents.
“Those who prey on minors to solicit the production of CSAM are morally reprehensible and will be held accountable for their heinous crimes,” Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Steven Jensen said in a news release.
Brown is currently being held without bond and awaiting a hearing in court.
The FBI is asking anyone who may have information about Brown or his solicitation of child sexual abuse material to contact DBVictims@fbi.gov, visit www.fbi.gov/DBVictims or by making an anonymous tip at 800-225-5324.
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