Judge Grants Bail to Miami Beach Educator Accused of Child Pornography

MIAMI Fla. — A federal magistrate judge on Thursday granted a bail request for assistant Miami Beach principal Don Clippinger of Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center, but ordered the longtime educator to wear an electronic monitoring device, keep away from the Internet and avoid contact with any child under the age of 18.

Clippinger, who is also facing termination following his arrest by federal agents this week, allegedly used the screen name, "666prv" when he watched child pornography in his Miami Shores home on three separate occasions.

Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres required a $200,000 personal surety bond to be c0-signed by Clippinger's partner, brothers and sister-in-law. In addition, Clippinger will be subject to home confinement and must wear an electronic monitoring device and other conditions.

Clippinger was charged with the federal offense of intent to view visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials described the allegations as "disgraceful and reprehensible" following his arrest by federal agents earlier this week.

Clippinger was arrested at his Miami Shores home by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations.
Arrest documents reviewed by Patch accuse Clippinger of using his Dell tower computer to watch child pornography in an online Internet video conferencing application described only as "Application A," on Nov. 13, 20 and 23, 2015.

Investigators did not disclose the actual name of the application.

"Clippinger admitted utilizing his DELL tower computer to enter 'Application A' with the '666prv' username," according to the criminal complaint. "Clippinger stated that while logged into a meeting room of 'Application A,' he observed streaming videos of child pornography that were being transmitted by other users. Clippinger explained that he usually accessed 'Application A' in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon."

Investigators said that Clippinger streamed nude video of himself watching his computer screen via a webcam in a second-floor home office.

They also said that he admitted to masturbating to images of child pornography and describing himself on multiple occasions as a "Pedo" to other users on "Application A" and other video conferencing software.

The term "pedo" or "ped" stands for pedophile, according to the criminal complaint, which said that the term is commonly used to search for child pornography on the Internet.

Miami-Dade Schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Dieg0 told Patch after Clippinger's arrest that the district had initiated procedures for the educator's immediate dismissal.

“The accusations made against this employee are disgraceful and reprehensible, and constitute conduct unbecoming a school district employee,” said Gonzalez-Dieg0, who is the district's chief communications officer in a prepared statement.

Gonzalez-Diego also told Patch that the school district had not received prior complaints against Clippinger from parents or students during his 23 years with the district.

Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center is located in the historic Art Deco district of Miami Beach with more than half of the faculty holding advanced degrees.

Image via Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center Facebook page