A seventh-grade teacher in the Southwest Alaska community of Tuluksak will spend four years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography that he viewed and distributed on his work laptop.
John Paul Donald Douglas, 37, was arrested at his Tuluksak home in mid-August. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison with six suspended. He will be on supervised release for five years and will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years after his release, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Aliberti said in a written statement.
Douglas originally faced eight charges of possessing child pornography and one charge of distributing child pornography. He pleaded guilty to one charge of child pornography possession earlier this year.
On May 8, state investigators were sent a video depicting "child sexual exploitation" from a computer with an address geo-located in Tuluksak.
In June, Alaska State Troopers searched Douglas' home. Officers found about 2,000 images and videos of child pornography. He had used a laptop borrowed from the Yupiit School District to download, view and distribute the images, prosecutors said.
Douglas was a seventh-grade teacher at the time of his arrest, Alaska State Troopers said. The Yupiit School District superintendent was not immediately available Tuesday to answer questions about his employment at the district, a person who answered the phone said.
Douglas is incarcerated at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center, online records show.