WLCSD contractor resigns after child porn investigation

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

WALLED LAKE — A former labor contract negotiator at the Walled Lake Consolidated School District resigned April 1 after getting entangled in a child pornography investigation, the school district announced April 17.

Craig Aleo, 63, of Davisburg resigned from his contracted job with the school district after revealing that he was being investigated for porn possession.

Superintendent Bill Hamilton said the district contracted Aleo to do labor negotiations during the 2008-09 school year. Aleo had previously been WLCSD’s former assistant superintendent for labor relations, though school officials would not say how long Aleo held the position.

Hamilton said Aleo’s work did not involve contact with children, and he said his district is working with the police.

“It is our policy not to speculate further when an ongoing investigation is under way,” Hamilton said in a statement.

Aleo is currently being held in custody. At this time, a criminal complaint in New York accuses him of child porn possession, and he faces two charges from a Michigan indictment. The court has entered not guilty pleas on Aleo’s behalf for the Michigan charges.

The New York complaint accuses Aleo of knowingly transporting child porn across international borders. According to written testimony from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent, Aleo and his wife crossed the U.S.-Canada border into New York March 26.

Customs officials reportedly searched Aleo’s laptop and memory devices and allegedly found 13 suspicious images and one video file of porn. The content showed prepubescent girls in sex acts, court documents said.

The report said Aleo admitted to subscribing to two porn Web sites, and he allegedly said that one of them contains sexual pictures of minor girls.

“Aleo also admitted to agents in his statement that he was aware that his computer contained images of child exploitative material,” the report said.

In addition, federal agents searched Aleo’s home March 27 and analyzed his two computers and stored data. They allegedly found more than 100 child porn images that included prepubescent girls in sex acts. They also allegedly found child porn videos.

A second ICE agent testified in court documents that ICE had probed the operations of child porn sites and concluded that Aleo was a “probable subscriber.”

In Michigan, a grand jury indicted Aleo April 14, charging him with one count of producing child porn and one count of possessing child porn. The indictment’s first count specifically accuses Aleo of getting a minor to do sex acts for visual depiction and interstate commerce in or around 2006.

Gina Balaya of the U.S. Attorney’s office said a felony count of child porn production carries a mandatory 15-30 years of prison, and a felony count of possession carries up to 10 years.

Aleo’s attorney, John Freeman, confirmed that his client’s former employment at Walled Lake was strictly administrative and did not involve kids.

“Mr. Aleo has no criminal history,” Freeman said. “He voluntarily resigned from the Walled Lake school district. … He is presumed innocent and entitled to due process of law.”

In a statement, WLCSD spokeswoman Judy Evola said the district currently has no evidence that any events surrounding to the case happened in Walled Lake. “In the unlikely event that this should change, we will be honest and upfront with our community,” she said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.