A teacher at Southern Durham High School is under investigation, accused of sharing child pornography on the internet.

The State Bureau of Investigation Computer Crimes Unit discovered more than 1,800 images of suspected child pornography during an undercover investigation. The SBI linked the email address to Willem J. Pet, age 61, of Durham.  Pet taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at the high school.

The SBI and Durham Police served a search warrant last week on Pet's residence where they seized computer files and other records for forensic analysis.

Pet refused to comment about the situation and referred NBC17 to his attorney, Woody Van, who said they are cooperating with the SBI. Van said Pet turned over even more computers to be investigated. They say they will take a "wait-and-see" approach for what is to come.

The SBI agents say they first discovered Pet's suspected online activities while conducting training for local law enforcement in now to catch Internet predators and child pornographers.

"Our SBI computer crimes experts work tirelessly to track down criminals and protect children," said Attorney General Roy Cooper. "We're also working to train more local officers to go online and catch these criminals so they can't hurt our children."

New state laws this year increased the penalty for predators that solicit children over the internet and then show up at a meeting place to assault a child.

The new law also bans convicted sex offenders from social networking sites where children are members and requires social networks to take reasonable steps to keep North Carolina sex offenders off of their sites.

School officials say Pet was suspended without pay on Friday.

According to the Attorney General Roy Coopers's office, federal charges against Pet are likely.

Related Links

1. WRAL Coverage: Durham ESL Teacher Accused Of Child Porn
2. ABC11: Child Porn Investigation
3. N&O: Child Porn Probe Focuses On Durham Teacher