SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Seminole County elementary school teacher is behind bars in the midst of a child porn investigation.
WFTV found out that teacher briefly taught kindergarten at Spring Lake Elementary school in Altamonte Springs.
Parents of those children were notified personally by the school district Friday about the arrest.
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An arrest report talks about graphic and disturbing videos she's accused of making.
The one video we can tell you about is the one she allegedly filmed in her first grade classroom in Michigan.
After WFTV shared the report with Seminole County Public Schools, the Spring Lake Elementary teacher was fired immediately.
Audra Mabel is accused of producing and distributing child pornography across state lines, by sending the videos to her ex-lover, Justin Ritchie in Sanford.
Ritchie was arrested last week after allegations of child abuse surfaced.
When police searched his phone they found 10 videos containing alleged child pornography, investigators said Mabel shot with her iPhone and then sent Ritchie.
Mabel told investigators that she became involved with him around July 2017 and terminated the relationship in 2018 because he would not leave his wife.
Investigators said they found an additional sexually explicit video on Ritchies iPhone that Mabel produced inside the school where she worked as a first-grade teacher in Lansing, Michigan.
Investigators said the video shows Mabel putting the camera under her skirt and then videotaping the children in her classroom all the while having a conversation with them.
Although there is no evidence that Mabel did anything similar while teaching kindergartners at Spring Lake Elementary, the charges and the description of this video concerned school officials enough to terminate her and contact the parents of her students immediately.
“It's too early to know whether there were or there weren't,” said Michael Lawrence with Seminole County Public Schools. That's why we just want to take the precaution of making them aware and having those conversations with their students with their children.”
The school is telling parents, if they uncovered any questionable activity, to contact the U.S attorney in Tampa.
According to her resume, she has a master’s in education from the University of Florida and taught for a few years at Glen Springs Elementary in Gainesville.
#Breaking: Spring Lake Elementary teacher arrested on federal charges. Accused of producing and distributing child pornography. Seminole County Schools immediately terminated Audra Mabel after learning of the charges. #WFTV pic.twitter.com/aPvzbTBycu
— Jeff Levkulich (@jlevkulichWFTV) March 15, 2019
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