PITTSBURG, N.H. — A former teacher and girls’ soccer coach at a school in Pittsburg is being held after his arrest Sunday on a charge that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl earlier this year.

Matthew Brooks, 31, of Canaan, Vt., taught math and science at Dirigo High School in Dixfield, Maine, until coming to Coos County to teach three years ago.

Sgt. Jeffrey Howe of the Dixfield (Maine) Police Department said Thursday that
authorities had received no complaints during Brooks’ time in Maine,
although he did once file a noise complaint.

“If this was an issue, it was not brought to our attention,” Howe said.

Brooks was already facing a federal charge of receiving child pornography when he was arrested by Colebrook police Sunday morning on a warrant from Pittsburg.

“It just makes you sick to think something like this happened,” School Administrative Unit 7 (N.H.) Superintendent Robert Mills said.

Brooks was held at the Coos County House of Corrections until his arraignment Monday in lieu of $75,000 cash bail. His bail was reduced to $50,000 and he continues to be held at the West Stewartstown jail.

Mills said Brooks, a Colebrook native, taught science to junior high and high school students at the small school near the Canadian border. He had a three-year contract that expired in June; the contract was not renewed.

The contract termination came months before school officials were aware of any investigation of Brooks.

“He was not rehired, but that had nothing to do with this, it was about teaching,” Mills said.

Brooks was also a coach of the girls’ soccer team, he said.

In court papers filed Monday afternoon, Pittsburg police Chief Richard Lapoint said he received a call Nov. 2 from the school regarding a teenage girl who was a student and Brooks’; the two allegedly had sex at Brooks’ rental property in Pittsburg this past April.

The Nov. 2 report came 10 days before Brooks was charged by the U.S. Attorney in Vermont on one count of receipt of child pornography.

According to federal court papers, a friend had borrowed Brooks’ laptop computer and discovered computer images of child pornography. That friend reported it to another friend, who contacted Vermont State Police.

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement became involved in the investigation and obtained a search warrant of Brooks’ Vermont home on Nov. 10. According to court papers, “Brooks admitted to trading child pornography with other collectors over the Internet.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson said Monday that after initially being held on the federal charge, Brooks was under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device. As of Monday, no indictment has been handed up by a federal grand jury.

After leaving Pittsburg, Brooks was employed at the Camp E-Toh-Anee in Stewartstown, according to a spokesman for Florida-based Eckerd Youth Alternatives, which operates the boys’ school.

“Matthew Brooks passed a stringent background and reference check prior to employment with us,” said Karen Bonsignori, associate vice president with Eckerd. “His employment was terminated upon hearing of his arrest.”

Bonsignori said the background check includes credentials verification, fingerprint check, criminal records check and background screening.

Mills said there was nothing to indicate there would be this kind of issue with Brooks.

“It’s one of the problems with the system,” he said. “It’s very difficult to get an honest recommendation. We weren’t told anything.”

Lapoint said the investigation is continuing and further charges may be filed.