Fayetteville police arrested 53-year-old Robert Richards Thursday on five counts related to child pornography. According to the police report, a Florida investigator notified the Arkansas State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Unit of a computer in Arkansas distributing child pornography. Unit detectives then traced the IP address back to Richards' computer and found numerous child porn files. During a search at Richards' home, investigators took a computer, hard drives and videos of child pornography for evidence. Fayetteville school administrators say Richards has worked as a special education aide at Leverett Elementary since 1998. The school district spokesman says criminal background checks are run before hiring any school employee. This is one of those situations you don't even want to imagine could occur, but we take great pains to make sure it is a secure and safe environment, and the instant we get any inkling that there's something inappropriate we immediately investigate," Alan Wilbourn says. The district has suspended Richards and launched it's own internal investigation. Richards' bond is set at $10,000.
