Marching Band Director Arraigned on Child Pornography Charges

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A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday ordered the assistant marching band director at Troy Athens High School temporarily held without bond after the teacher’s arraignment on child pornography charges, according to news reports.

Federal investigators began tracking the Internet activity of Eric Junod, 38, in January after he was linked to an online pornography exchange site, according to the petition filed in federal court. He reportedly used the screen name “Viper45.”

Troy school officials fired Junod Monday after learning of the allegations against him. Junod had taught symphonic and marching band at Troy Athens for 15 years. There’s no indication that any photos of Troy students were swapped on the site, district spokeswoman Kerry Birmingham said, according to The Detroit News and WDIV-TV.

According to FBI Special Agent Brad Burnett, the user Viper45 accessed images of a prepubescent girl being touched by an adult in late January, and also viewed several images of nude children in late March. One was of a 3-year-old girl in a lewd pose, and another was of a naked 3-year-old girl involved in a sex act, according to court documents.

The FBI traced Viper45’s Internet service to Junod’s home in Holly. On Monday, agents searched his home and seized a laptop computer, iPhone and iPad. Investigators discovered more than 600 images of suspected child pornography had been stored on the devices, according to court documents.

Junod allegedly admitted to storing child pornography on his devices and trading pornography at least 100 times, investigators wrote in court filings.

The FBI said that although Junod initially denied he had any sexual contact with children, he later admitted to having sexually explicit conversations with minor children online; sending pictures of his penis to underaged girls, who sent him explicit pictures in return; and inappropriately touching a girl as young as 12 months old.

The FBI also said in its filings that Junod “ discussed traveling out of state to meet two underage girls but claimed he never intended to do so.”

Junod will be back in federal court on Wednesday.