Police said Jeremy Sykes, 43, of Columbia, has been teaching at the school since October 2013. Sykes has been in the substitute teacher system in Howard County since October 2011.
Police received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that numerous uploads of child pornography had been traced to the same user on two separate computers in Howard County.
One computer was traced to Sykes’ home and the other to Folly Quarter Middle School in Ellicott City, where Sykes taught.
According to court documents, some of the pictures showed young girls performing sex acts.
Investigators have conducted searches at his home and the school. According to the HCPSS, Sykes has been removed from the school system’s list of approved substitutes and is banned from entering any HCPSS property.
Police said they have no indication that any of the children pictured in the photos are students from the middle school. Detectives are continuing to investigate and spoke with some of Sykes’ students at the school on Friday.
Following his arrest Thursday at his home in Columbia, Sykes was released by the court on his own recognizance. Someone came to the door at his house Friday night but declined to comment about the case.
The Howard County school system does background checks and is notified if an employee is arrested and goes through the fingerprinting process.
WBAL-TV 11 News found several cases involving Sykes in the court system dating back to March 2012 but none involved booking or fingerprinting.
"We think that there might still be things, certainly, that we don't know about this case or this suspect, and we're looking for any information that students, parents, school employees can provide," Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewelyn said.
Anyone with information, including students, parents or school employees, is encouraged to call the HCPD Child Abuse Section at 410-313-2630. Callers can remain anonymous.
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