Assistant Principal Charged With Child Pornography

An assistant principal at Freedom High School in South Riding was arrested yesterday and charged with possession of child pornography.

Ting-Yi Oei, 59, of Reston, who has spent more than 29 years in area school systems, was taken into custody at the school and brought before a Loudoun County magistrate before being released, according to the sheriff's office. Yesterday was the first day of school for Loudoun teachers and administrators.

Oei's attorney, Steven D. Stone, called the charges "outrageous" and said his client was being "persecuted" by the commonwealth's attorney. The grand jury handed up the indictment against Oei on Aug. 11, court documents show. But Stone said neither he nor Oei was informed of the charges until sheriff's deputies showed up at the school yesterday.

"Everyone knows where Mr. Oei is. He's not hiding out. If he were indicted and told about it, he would have gone in," Stone said. "The timing raises questions. Why the public spectacle? Mr. Oei is a responsible person, and he intends to fight these charges because they're wrong."

"We'll go straight to court, and we're going to pound this charge into the ground," he said. "There's no question, no question, that he is innocent."

Prosecutor Nicole Wittman said that Oei's attorneys had been informed of the indictment and told to be in court Aug. 12 but that they didn't show up. "We just feel very strongly that this is not someone who should be in the Loudoun County school system," Wittman said.

County school officials said they were informed of the charges yesterday. "We're examining the situation and deciding the course of action," said Wayde B. Byard, a school system spokesman. "At this point, we're weighing what options we have. We have to make decisions that reflect everybody's best interests."

Byard said that as an assistant principal, part of Oei's duties would have been handling disciplinary issues. Oei has been at Freedom since it opened in 2005.

The charge stems from a March 14 incident, officials said. Oei allegedly had come to possess an "inappropriate" cellphone photo of a female student taken by another student, said Kraig Troxell, a sheriff's office spokesman.

Law enforcement officials were notified of the photo by a third party three weeks later, Troxell said. Oei allegedly did not inform the child's parents, law enforcement or child protective services of the photo, Troxell said, so officials charged him with failure to report suspicion of child abuse or neglect, a violation of state law. Oei was placed on administrative leave with pay.

The charge, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500, was dropped, Troxell said. It was replaced with the charge of possession of child pornography, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Byard said Oei was back at work after the misdemeanor charge was dropped and was at school yesterday preparing for the start of classes when he was arrested.

"There's more to the story," Wittman said without elaborating. "If this was a matter of a photo that he possessed and maintained solely for the purpose of executing his job as vice principal, we would not be interested in prosecuting him. That is not the case."

Freedom High School PTSA President Cheryl Bacak said she saw Oei at school yesterday. "He's always been very pleasant. The kids seem to respond well to him, and the parents -- everyone likes him," she said. "I'm shocked. I'm speechless. The charges are unbelievable."

Oei, a past president of the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia, was a school administrator in Fairfax County for 25 years before moving to Loudoun.

Researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.