IDEA Charter, Red Lion Academy, NIU Staff Among Multiple Arrests in U.S. Child Sexual Abuse, Exploitation Cases

Law enforcement agencies across the United States have recently reported a series of arrests and charges involving educators, public officials, and others accused of child sexual abuse, possession and production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and related crimes.

In Washington, D.C., former IDEA Public Charter School teacher Devonne Keith Brown, 56, was arrested on June 2 for allegedly soliciting explicit images from a minor online, using social media and payment apps such as CashApp and Instagram. Brown, who also operated under the alias 'Joseph' and was affiliated with Project Impact Sports, is accused of sending payments between $10 and $35 to a minor in exchange for nude photos. The school stated that no current IDEA students were involved in the case.

In Delaware, Joseph Caceres, 34, a van driver for Red Lion Christian Academy, was charged with five felony counts of third-degree rape after allegedly raping a 14-year-old student multiple times between November 2024 and May 2025. Caceres, who visited the victim at home and drove her to locations where assaults occurred, was arrested June 1 and is being held after failing to post $100,000 cash bail.

Other recent cases include Manatee County, Florida, teacher Oliver Fell, 28, charged with lewd contact and transmission of harmful material after sending an explicit photo to a 14-year-old student at Carlos E. Haile Middle School on January 2, 2025. Fell is being held without bond. Michael B. Erickson, 20, a Northern Illinois University student, was charged with multiple counts related to thousands of images of suspected child sexual abuse material found in his dorm and was granted pre-trial release.

Additional arrests and sentences have been reported for school employees, public officials, and others in various states, including a mayor and his wife in Georgia charged with child sex crimes, a former Texas state trooper sentenced for child sexual abuse, and a Fort Worth man sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.