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WEST VALLEY CITY — A West Valley middle school teacher accused of having scrapbooks of child pornography in his classroom that police say were put together with "meticulous attention" was arrested Thursday.
Michael Scott Hatfield, 58, of Midvale, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of seven counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of access to pornographic material.
An email sent to parents and faculty says investigators found no evidence suggesting that any of Hatfield's students were victims.
Hatfield was a teacher at the American Preparatory Academy, 3636 W. 3100 South. The investigation began when a school employee responsible for security surveillance cameras observed Hatfield "covering the camera inside his classroom," according to a jail report.
In a prepared statement, school officials said covering up cameras "is unacceptable and resulted in further investigation. The teacher was immediately interviewed by school administration and placed on administrative leave within a few hours of the incident."
The employee reviewed the video and observed Hatfield take out a black bag from his desk before covering the camera, the report states.
The audio from the monitor still recorded, however, and the employee believed Hatfield was masturbating, according to the report.
School administrators seized his black bag and found two "albums" filled with child pornography, the report states. West Valley police were called and served a search warrant on the bag. Investigators found the two scrapbooks, a pornographic DVD and a bottle of lotion, police wrote in the report.
The scrapbooks were described by police as having "meticulous attention in the creation and compilation" of each, according to the report. One book had 26 pages, 24 of which contained pornography, police said, while the other had pornography on 25 of 26 pages.
"The photo album contained mostly collage style pages, which included cutouts and photos of nude girls," police wrote. One album also contained stickers, captions and comments, including names and ages.
A spokesman for the academy said Monday that Hatfield has been dismissed from the school.
"American Preparatory Academy is deeply concerned should any employee have inappropriate materials in possession on school grounds. We are grateful we have cameras in classrooms and astute staff members who monitor continually for our students’ safety," school executive director Carolyn Sharette said in a prepared statement.
According to Hatfield's Facebook and LinkedIn pages, he taught middle school English. He had been at the American Preparatory Academy for nearly four years. Before that, he was a substitute teacher in the Washington County School District, his pages state.
His most recent criminal background check by the school was a year ago, and had no incidents, according to the school.
