Cullman County Sheriff’s investigators arrested a former area high school teacher Wednesday morning on child pornography and extortion charges.

Derrick LePard, 25 of Holly Pond and a former science teacher at Cold Springs High School, was arrested around 9:15 a.m. at his home on Cullman County grand jury indictments for attempting to produce child pornography and attempting to commit extortion. LePard was incarcerated at the Cullman County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond. His arrest went without incident and his arraignment is set for Aug. 3.

Sheriff Tyler Roden said the child pornography charge did not involve any students at Cold Springs or any residents of Cullman County.

“The charge is based on the examination of the computer that we seized from his home,” Roden said. “Numerous pictures of child pornography — more than 10 — were recovered. The pictures appear to be from another source he obtained through the Internet.”

Roden would not elaborate on the extortion charge other than it was based on several text messages allegedly sent by LePard to some Cold Springs students.

The indictments stemmed from an investigation the sheriff’s office that began in March at the request of the Cullman County Board of Education.

“Text messages he (LePard) sent was how the case began,” Roden said. “There was some inappropriate texting to students.”

Roden declined to divulge any details concerning the texts.

During the course of the investigation, deputies seized LePard’s office computer during school hours and searched his residence, where they seized his personal computer. Several Cold Springs students were questioned as part of the investigation.

LePard resigned from his job soon after the investigation began.

“We feel this (arrest) strongly validates our reason for asking him to resign at the time of the incident,” said Hank Allen, superintendent of the county school system. “The safety and best interest of the students motivated us to make our decision.”

In a previous interview with The Cullman Times, LePard stated he was completely innocent of any potential wrongdoing.

“I’ve never looked at child porn or anything like that in my life," LePard said in late March. “The worst thing they might find in my things is a DVD of the movie Titanic.”

A 2001 Fairview High School graduate, LePard had been a teacher at Cold Springs since 2006. According to the official Cold Springs High School Web site, he was also an adjunct instructor at Wallace State Community College and Bevill State Community College. As science team sponsor at Cold Springs, his team won the county science tournament in 2008.

Attempting to produce child pornography is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Attempting to commit extortion is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by as much as one year in jail or one year of hard labor for the county.

‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.