ODESSA, Texas — An ECISD bus driver has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.
Reid Derrick Witcher, 45, was arrested as a result of a joint investigation by ICE, DPS and Homeland Security Investigations.
Authorities executed a state search warrant on Witcher's home and found a binder with around 125 photos of child pornography.
Witcher reportedly told authorities he had been downloading and viewing child porn for around 10 years and possessed nearly 10,000 images through electronic media.
“Innocent children who are sexually exploited physically or through disseminated child pornography may suffer irreparable trauma,” said Jack P. Staton, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso.
“Under our ongoing Operation Predator program, our HSI special agents continue to work jointly with our law enforcement partners to rescue victimized children, and aggressively target child predators for their heinous crimes.”
ECISD released the following statement in relation to the incident:
"We worked with the Department of Public Safety in their investigation, and ultimate arrest, of one of our bus drivers for possession of child pornography. These charges are extremely disturbing, and upon learning of them, the driver was immediately fired.
We want to assure our community we take great care to screen potential employees before they are hired. All employees must be fingerprinted for a criminal history check that searches state and national databases. In this case, the man involved worked for the school district twice – as a substitute teacher during part of 2006 and 2007 and again as an activity bus driver for field trips and extra-curricular trips beginning in 2013. Both times he was hired, the district completed all of the required background checks. We received no complaints of this nature about him at any time.
Our ECISD police helped in his arrest, and we will continue to help the investigation in any way that we can. At this time, we have not been given any indication that any of our students are involved. If anyone has information they feel might be relevant to the authorities investigating this case we encourage them to call 1-866-347-2423.
Our students’ safety is always our top priority, and we will take the steps necessary to ensure it."