A New York City teacher who works with “at-risk” students has been charged with possessing child sexual abuse material, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.
The teacher, Joseph Taylor McKeel, was arrested on his way to work on Wednesday. He had with him a thumb drive that contained 150 images that depicted child sexual abuse, along with a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine, Samuel Rackear, a federal prosecutor, said in court.
The gravity of the charges seemed to resonate with Mr. McKeel. Wearing a black and white windbreaker in court, he spoke with a shaking voice as he briefly answered questions from Judge Vera M. Scanlon. Because he was arrested on a federal criminal complaint, he was not asked to enter a plea on Wednesday.
Kyla Wells, Mr. McKeel’s lawyer, said in court that the teacher was addicted to drugs and had been suspended from the school where he works. Judge Scanlon ordered him detained overnight at the Metropolitan Detention Center and said she would rule Thursday on whether he should enter a drug-treatment program.
Prosecutors did not disclose the name of the school, but Mr. Rackear described it as one for “at-risk” students. On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. McKeel, 32, was listed as “Taylor McKeel” on the staff directory at Independence High School, a small school in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan that serves about 270 students who are behind on credits or are returning to classes after dropping out. A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case confirmed that Mr. McKeel worked at Independence High School.
The school did not immediately respond to calls to its front desk on Wednesday. Some of the images on the thumb drive, Mr. Rackear said, showed Mr. McKeel masturbating and smoking methamphetamine in an empty classroom.
Isla Gething, a spokeswoman for the city’s Education Department, said that “the safety and well-being of our students is our top priority,” adding that the teacher would be fired if convicted and that the city would offer support to the school community.
“The alleged behavior is deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable,” she said.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
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