Kindergarten teacher arrested for child pornography

JACKMAN — A kindergarten teacher at Forest Hills School in Jackman was arrested Thursday and charged with the possession of child pornography, including images of his own students, according to Maine State Police.

Somerset County Jail

Rob Mocarsky

Rob Mocarsky, 41, was arrested at his home in Jackman on Thursday afternoon after a team of detectives and the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit served a search warrant and found on his home computer "dozens of images of images of children, including some of his own students," according to a press release sent by the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Mocarsky was charged with the possession of sexually explicit material of a minor under the age of 12. He will appear in Somerset County Court at 1 p.m. today.

He was awarded the Milken Family Foundation National Educator award in 2005, a prestigious award that recognizes outstanding educators at a national level. He has worked at the Forest Hills School in Jackman since 2002. According to the Maine Department of Education, Mocarsky taught at Stockholm Elementary School from 1991 to 1993, Mount Desert Island Elementary School from 1993 to 1994, and Longfellow School on Cranberry Isles, which is now closed, from 1994 to 1995.

School officials and state police met with parents at Forest Hills School last night to brief them on the investigation. According to the press release, detectives will be interviewing parents and students as the investigation continues.

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Comments

Charlotte's picture
verified

This is sad and disgusting.

If he were my childrens' teacher, I am not really sure what I would do, but I would certainly like to see him suffer the worst possible consequences for his actions. To violate the absolute trust that a child has for his or her teacher is heinous and inexcusable. How disgusting. I don't care if people say that these types of people have a mental illness or how else it is portrayed to make them look less horrible....nothing can do that. We need much harsher punishments for fans of child pornography and child abusers.

melora's picture

But for so long!

It says he was working in elementary schools since 1991... if he is guilty (and I just say that since we have to let the police investigate fully before placing judgment)... it could have been going on since 1991! I hope they look into possible victims from the other schools he worked at.

angelsx34eva's picture

Another One?

What is happening with our teachers of today?....When someone says to me "You can't trust anyone"...boy is that the truth...sending our children to school these days is getting to be so scarey...Teachers...of all people...are supposed to ones we can trust...I read these stories and it makes me so sick...I talk to my children often about what there school day was like...every once in a while I ask things like "Did anyone at school touch you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?"...My youngest always says "Mom, you think I'm THAT stupid?"...But you just never know...These pedophiles operate in such a way that I honestly believe that some children might be being "violated" and not even know it...This guy had pictures of his own students on his computor!!!Article doesn't say in what form the pictures were...I'm trying real hard not to go there...What a shame...There are good teachers out there...I have no doubt about that...but it's teachers like this that are giving the "position" a horrible name...And this is happening too much in our state for us parents to turn a blind eye to it....

melora's picture

But so long

What is worse, this could have been going on for years! This man started working at that school in 2002 and was working in the field of childcare since 1991! There could be very many victims!

jfecteau's picture

Background Check Idea

This may be far-fetched but maybe a law should be passed for these types of professions where an investigator is allowed to go to their home before they are hired to check their PCs, laptops, and phones, etc. Then randomly show up as they are employed to do the same. This does evade privacy but if a person chooses this type of profession knowing that they will be subject to these types of searches then they will have to accept it. I can't imagine what these children and parents are going through. I wonder how he got these kids alone to do this? I really hope that only pictures were taken, which is bad enough. As a parent of a couple kids that age, I don't know what I would do if this happened to them. They are so innocent and trusting at that age.

verified

Background Checks....

... can only cover so much information. The information they reveal is stuff that has been recorded in a persons past at some place and time. What you are asking for in essence is in depth investigations into a persons life, which quite honestly, while needed, is never going to happen. While this heinous event portrays the need for it, people rely to much on their own personal privacy to allow it to happen and I can guarantee you, once it is allowed into one profession the door is open for all professions and that is just a big nasty can of worms.

And yes, this individual does deserve harsh punishment. In my own views, anything less than the death penalty is insufficient.

verified

Families

The families with the children in school must be devastated. Probably a good thing the State Police caught him before the townspeople did.

jeffyd's picture
verified

so glad my childrens teachers are female

that dosent eliminate the chances of abuse but it does statistically drop them significantly.

melora's picture

This is true

I have also felt the same way. Sadly one needs to be suspicious of men in the childcare field in my opinion. Many of the cases are also homosexual related (you can look that up for statistics on the CDC).

AF_Vet's picture
verified

Great Job!

Great job Maine State Police! Sounds like a good case built up to prosecute this deviant and put him away for what I hope is a lifetime.

It turns my stomach knowing there are humans out there who do this stuff.

AllarieLarsen's picture

Regis LePage?

Remember the story of the local business man who had hours and hours of child porn o his computer but received 4000 hours of community service instead of jail time? There is one form of justice for people with money and another form for the rest of us. Possession of child porn ought to have mandatory jail time.

rusty's picture

Great job

It never ceases to amaze me, is it just me it seems to be more and more teachers that are in posession of child porn. I wish the justice would give harder sentences and prosocute (sp) realy hard. It makes me sick to my stomache to see such trash. Are the school systemes really lo0oking away or not checking the teachers before they hire them,,i think that the teachers of today should be checked again and SEARCH DEEPER...Rusty

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