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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Elliot Gornall appears in court via LYNC video hearing from Ashland County Jail Monday, March 9, 2015 in Ashland, Ohio. Gornall, 32, a former kindergarten teacher, is accused of using a tiny spy camera to secretly record his kindergarten students using the bathroom. He plead not guilty pleas to the charges. (AP Photo/Ashland Times-Gazette, Tom E. Puskar)
ASHLAND, Ohio >> An Ohio teacher had 63 videos of his kindergarten students using the bathroom and hundreds of images of child pornography downloaded from the Internet on his computer, a prosecutor said Monday.
Elliot Gornall, 32, of Lorain, was ordered held in Ashland County Jail on a $500,000 bond. He has been charged with 23 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented materials or performance and two counts of attempted use.
An attorney for Gornall entered a not guilty plea.
Twenty-five of Gornall’s kindergartners were recorded using a tiny spy camera installed in a first-floor bathroom next to Gornall’s classroom, Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell has said. The images were recorded between August and November of 2014. The Ashland Times-Gazette reported that Tunnell said there was no evidence Gornall inappropriately touched students.
The videos and images were found on Gornall’s computer after it was seized during a drug-related search of his home in November. Gornall was indicted on drug possession charges as well as receiving stolen property after investigators found 13 pairs of children’s underwear in the home.
Gornall began teaching in Loudonville, about 80 miles south of Cleveland, in 2011 and resigned in November. The Times-Gazette reported that Gornall taught second- and third-graders before moving to a kindergarten class last fall.
Tunnell said Monday that Gornall abused his position of trust.
"The state’s case is extremely strong against Mr. Gornall," Tunnell said.
