The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
A high school band director has been accused of possessing videos and other materials allegedly showing evidence that he was sexually interacting with a former student.
47-year-old Christopher Michael Blackmer has worked with the students at Winter Park High School as the director of the band for the past 6 years.
At the end of January, the authorities were allegedly presented information from an unnamed source claiming that Blackmer was in possession of images and video of an underage boy. The report also alleged that Blackmer recently shared the pictures with a current student attending Winter Park High.
At the time of the initial accusations, the Orange County School District placed Blackmer on administrative leave from his band director position.
During their investigation, the authorities inspected the video content and believed that it was made approximately 5 years ago. They purported that the teenager in the video appeared to fit the description of a 16 or 17-year-old student that was enrolled at Colonial High School when the filming took place. The adult in the video was said to hold enough of a resemblance to Blackmer that it has been assumed that he is the man who was having sex with the teen.
A couple of days after the report about the incident the police spoke with Blackmer about the accusations. Blackmer allegedly told them that he exchanged online messages with a student earlier this year, but he did not transfer any pictures. He told the authorities that he believed he had seen the pictures he was accused of sending on a Tumblr account and they had been online for more than a year.
After being granted a search warrant, the police confiscated and searched through Blackmer’s cell phone. They allegedly found a 39-minute video compilation containing what appeared to be five different sexual encounters from 2014 between Blackmer and the teenager. They also alleged that there were pictures with questionable content on his device.
Blackmer was placed under arrest last Friday and he is being charged with sexual performance of a child: possession of child pornography, which is categorized as a 3rd-degree felony in the state of Florida.
Blackmer was released from custody after paying a $5,000 bond.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a sexual offense, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.