Valley Christian sued for not stopping former supervisor charged with making little one porn with college students

SAN JOSE — A former Valley Christian Excessive College supervisor accused of paying college students to create little one pornography was arraigned in federal courtroom Tuesday, a day a reported sufferer sued the varsity for not defending him regardless of obvious indicators of defendant’s illicit conduct.Todd Baldwin, a former operations supervisor at Valley Christian Excessive College in San Jose, has been charged in federal courtroom with soliciting college students to supply little one pornography. The college is being sued by one of many reported victims for not detecting his illicit habits. (San Jose Police Dept.) 

Todd Baldwin, 44, who now lives in Washington state, appeared in a San Jose courtroom to reply to 2 counts every of attractive a minor and receiving little one pornography, comparable to the accusations of two underage victims. If convicted on all counts, he faces a most penalty of 10 years in jail.

Baldwin pleaded not responsible and his subsequent courtroom listening to is scheduled for Feb. 4; he was allowed to stay out of jail custody underneath the supervision of a relative, in response to courtroom information. His legal professional didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Within the associated lawsuit, filed by the San Jose-based regulation agency Cerri, Boskovich and Allard, a reported sufferer within the prison case alleges he was 17 years outdated when he was goaded into sending scores of sexually express pictures and movies to Baldwin between December 2022 and August 2023. Detectives reported discovering proof displaying Baldwin paid the boy greater than $4,200 over that span.

The plaintiff contends in his authorized submitting that college directors had purpose to imagine Baldwin was participating in suspicious exercise. He asserts that Baldwin satisfied him to depart his courses and go to his workplace underneath the guise of working as Baldwin’s educating assistant even though as operations supervisor, his job didn’t contain any student-facing duties.

“This was a huge red flag,” plaintiff legal professional Lauren Cerri mentioned. “This kid had a major attendance problem and would frequently be observed by staff in Baldwin’s office instead of in class. No one said or did a thing about it.”

Baldwin can be accused of furnishing college students alcohol and marijuana in his workplace, and the lawsuit alleges the varsity did not correctly reply to “excessive noise (coming) from his office while plaintiff and other male students were inside including during instructional hours when they should have been in class.”

In August 2023, the lawsuit states, rumors began spreading about Baldwin’s habits, which coincided with the launch of the San Jose police investigation.

“While we have not seen the lawsuit and cannot speak to any specific allegations, when we were first made aware of this matter in August 2023, we acted swiftly, terminating the individual, and fully cooperated with law enforcement and we have continued to cooperate with authorities as this process unfolds,” Daugherty mentioned.

Baldwin was arrested that very same month, on allegations he solicited sexually express movies from a number of Valley Christian college students. In keeping with police, he agreed to an interview with detectives during which he “admitted to receiving nude images and masturbation videos from multiple minor boys in exchange for money,” in response to a federal grievance outlining the prison case.

Whereas the prison expenses contain two accusers, the police investigation cited proof indicating Baldwin solicited a minimum of three different minors.

The second reported sufferer listed within the prison expenses was 16 on the time he was solicited by Baldwin and attended a unique South Bay highschool, in response to the grievance. He was allegedly paid round $2,500 in trade for sending sexually express content material of himself to Baldwin.

Investigators described a scheme during which Baldwin approached the reported victims with a proposal of creating and promoting little one porn on-line on Reddit and splitting the income. He’s additionally accused of shopping for the lawsuit plaintiff a hoop gentle “to improve the quality of the images and videos produced,” and giving the identical boy particular underwear to put on throughout exercises expressly so Baldwin might later promote the “soiled” clothes.

Cerri mentioned the kid exploitation might have been stopped sooner had Valley Christian employees recognized what she described as clear grooming habits and different firable acts. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and authorized charges.

“Valley Christian betrayed this student and his parents’ trust,” Cerri mentioned. “The lack of proper oversight created an environment where such abuse could occur on campus undetected.”