Former Elgin school janitor accused of child porn hoarding

Investigators said the sex offender registry led to the discovery that a former Elgin Public Schools janitor lives too close to a school and further led to his admission he’d been hoarding and exchanging child porn online.

Jimmy Ray Pierce, 68, of Elgin, was arrested Wednesday  for charges of distribution of obscene material or child pornography and aggravated possession of child pornography, records indicate. The aggravated possession charge is punishable by up to life in prison.

In September 2023, Pierce pleaded guilty in Comanche County District Court to a felony count of indecent exposure as well as a misdemeanor charge of destroying evidence, records indicate. He was sentenced to a five-year suspended sentence for the felony count and one-year suspended sentence for the misdemeanor. He also was ordered to undergo mental health counseling and must register as a sex offender.

A Jan. 16 cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to Pierce’s phone number as provided to the sex offender registry. The data provided by Facebook with Meta Platforms, Inc., showed multiple child exploitative materials uploaded to Pierce’s personal Facebook feed and through exchanges through Facebook Messenger, the probable cause affidavit states.

Prior to that, Pierce had submitted his offender update sheet to the Comanche County Sheriff’s Department and it was learned his home at 800 1st Street in Elgin is within 2,000 feet of a school, which is in violation of state law for sex offenders, according to the affidavit. Sheriff’s detectives went to Pierce’s home on Feb. 7 and confirmed the violation.

On Feb. 9, a search warrant was executed at the home by the Sheriff’s Department with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. Before the search could begin, Pierce grabbed his cellphone and tried to take it with him to the bathroom; investigators were aware he was known to try to destroy evidence and seized the device, the affidavit states. The OSBI conducted a data extraction and confirmed he had over 100 images of child porn stored on it, investigators said.

Pierce told investigators he had stored and exchanged child porn with others and admitted he was going to destroy evidence if the phone hadn’t been taken from him, according to the affidavit. It was a move he’d made during a September 2022 investigation that led to his prior conviction.

Elgin police received a tip regarding screen shots of images posted online of a naked man posting photos of himself around what would be later identified as Elgin Elementary School with captions mentioning “parent teacher conference,” the affidavit states.

The first set of 15 photos showed a clothed elderly man inside a classroom, according to the affidavit. He also was shown wearing black thong underwear and then exposing himself beside “small children’s desks, on the children’s chairs and course materials.”

The second set of 12 photos showed the man in a different area of the school wearing black panties, pink lace panties and exposing himself in several photos, according to the affidavit.

The posted photos traced back to Pierce’s Elgin rent house. At that time he was working as a janitor for the school district. Elgin police met with Superintendent Nate Meraz, told him what was discovered, and the superintendent identified the man as Pierce, the affidavit states.

Meraz and the school resources officer contacted Pierce to inform him of a suspension motion; he has since been terminated from his job. When confronted and told of his suspension, Pierce was asked for consent to search his phone.

Pierce first agreed, then said “no” and smashed the phone against the corner of a wall causing the screen to shatter, the affidavit states. The officer retrieved the phone as evidence and images were later discovered from its data.

Pierce had not made his initial court appearance as of Wednesday afternoon.