Former substitute teacher for Northshore elementary schools charged with child porn possession

KIRKLAND -- A former substitute teacher for elementary schools in the Northshore School District was charged Monday with three counts of first-degree possession of child porn.

Kurtis Kasner, 72, was arrested after computer technicians allegedly uncovered child pornography on his computer that he had brought to them for repair.

Kasner remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.

According to court documents, police said Kasner was asked during the police interrogation when he started looking at images of children?

He allegedly answered, "All my life."

"I don't like it," Northshore parent James Coyle said Thursday. "Would you want a substitute teacher that has child porn on the computer at your school? I don't.”

Police said Kasner's secret was revealed when he brought his computer to a shop to in Kirkland to be repaired.

"The technician there opened up one of the files and found what they believed were images of child pornography so they called us right away," Kirkland police Lt. Mike Murray said.

After a search of his computer, police got a warrant to search his Woodinville home.

Inside, police say, they found images of children, 8 to 10 years old, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

"There are quite a few images. They collected a lot of evidence, lot of hard drives, a lot of disks, lot of CDs, lot of paper images and so forth,” ,Murray said.

Kasner has been a substitute teacher for 3rd- through 6th-graders in the Northshore School District since 2000.

The district has 20 elementary schools, and said Kasner filled in as a substitute teacher at several of them.



The Northshore School District released a statement Thursday afternoon that read;

“Providing a safe, secure learning environment for students and staff is our top priority, and we are cooperating fully with police in their active investigation. Mr. Kasner has been an elementary substitute teacher for the district since 2000. During that time, there have been no reported incidents of questionable conduct with students.”

Police detectives said Kasner admitted having sexual contact with two young boys in the early 1970s but added that no one ever knew and that he hasn't touched another child since then. But police have their doubts.

"That's our fear at this point,” Murray said.