Academy for Academic Excellence band director arrested, allegedly possessed child pornography
The longtime band director at the Academy for Academic Excellence (AAE) has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography after the discovery of a hidden camera on the Apple Valley campus.
In a press release issued a few hours after the Daily Press first reported the arrest of 63-year-old Ken Sockwell, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said staff at AAE contacted investigators on Friday about the hidden camera. The department did not indicate who discovered the camera, or where or how it was found on the campus.
The sheriff's Apple Valley station and the Crimes Against Children Detail conducted a joint investigation and linked the camera to Sockwell, according to the department, leading to his arrest later that day on the campus of AAE, a K-12 charter school operated by the Lewis Center for Educational Research.
Authorities arrested Sockwell shortly after noon on Friday on suspicion of possessing or controlling material that "depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct," according to booking records.
Sockwell was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto for the alleged possession of child pornography, the sheriff's department said.
Sockwell was released shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, according to booking records that show he paid an unspecified bail amount before being released to "self"; however, another section of the same records lists him as "ineligible" for bail.
Sheriff's spokesperson Mara Rodriguez told the Daily Press on Monday afternoon that Sockwell's "bail at the time of booking was set at $25,000."
It appears that Sockwell has not yet been charged with a crime. San Bernardino County court records offered no case information in connection to Sockwell's arrest as of Monday evening.
The crime listed in booking records is a felony punishable by a maximum of one year in prison and a $2,500 fine, according to California Penal Code — though the punishment can be escalated under some conditions, like if the subject of the material is under 12 years of age.
That said, It remains unclear how many counts of child pornography-related charges the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office may be considering, or when the office might press those charges and establish an initial court date for Sockwell. A spokesperson for the DA could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.
Lisa Lamb, president and CEO of the Lewis Center, said in a statement that "throughout this individual’s time at the Lewis Center, school officials had absolutely no knowledge of any improper conduct occurring at AAE or concerning any of our students."
Lamb said Sockwell is no longer a Lewis Center employee. He had been a teacher there for at least 20 years before his termination, she said.
"Upon receiving a concerning report of possible misconduct, we took immediate and swift action," Lamb said.
The Lewis Center "will continue to work closely with law enforcement" and "communicate with the community and our AAE families as we are able to do so," Lamb said.
Lewis Center employees "must pass a rigorous criminal and background reference check," according to Lamb. She said "additional resources have been committed at this time to increase counseling and social-emotional supports for our students."
Sockwell's tenure at AAE included leading students from the band program to numerous performances at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, according to a 2016 Daily Press report.
Charlie McGee covers the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities for the Daily Press. He is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.