Former Elgin schools janitor pleads guilty to federal child porn charges

OKLAHOMA CITY — A former Elgin Public Schools janitor indicted in Comanche County for child porn allegations pleaded guilty this week in the U.S. Western District Court to federal charges.

Jimmy Ray Pierce, 68, of Elgin, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of possession of material containing child pornography, according to U.S. Western District Attorney Robert J. Troester.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, in January 2024, Pierce uploaded child pornography to Facebook. While executing a court authorized search warrant, law enforcement located on his cellphone multiple videos and images depicting child pornography, Troester stated.

At sentencing, Pierce faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Pierce was arrested by Comanche County Sheriff’s Deputies on Feb. 28 for charges of distribution of obscene material or child pornography and aggravated possession of child pornography, records indicate. He never made an initial appearance in Comanche County District Court for those charges and was immediately taken into federal custody. The charges remain filed, however.

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.

Pierce was registered as a sex offender following a September 2023 guilty plea 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.

Pierce 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.

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. Officials seized his cellphone, whichhad over 100 images of child porn stored on it.

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. Investigators said that’s what he did 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 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. 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.