FORTY FORT, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A former Luzerne County music teacher has pleaded guilty to 500 counts of child pornography.
Police say, David Fortin, 38, of Forty Fort, pleaded guilty on Monday, March 13, after he was arrested on child porn charges in November 2021.
According to the affidavit, police received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about Fortin’s phone number being tied to an email address used to download child pornography.
As the affidavit reads, several videos of underage boys engaging in prohibited sex acts were found to be stored in Fortin’s ‘Dropbox’ account. Investigators say they obtained a warrant for the ‘Dropbox’ account and found thousands of videos of child pornography.
Police say Fortin told officers he knew watching the videos was illegal and he wanted to stop viewing them as he felt bad for being involved with child sexual abuse materials.
According to law enforcement, Fortin said he didn’t personally know anyone in the recordings and denied taking any of the videos himself. Fortin admitted to investigators using social media apps such as Kik, Wickr, and Telegram to meet others to send the illegal videos to.
Fortin was the owner of The Fortin Academy of Music in Tamaqua, where he held singing and music lessons.
Court papers say Fortin has pleaded guilty to 500 counts of child pornography Judge Sklarosky Jr. accepted Fortin’s plea agreement on Monday, January 13, and ordered Fortin be evaluated by Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Assessment Board.
Fortin’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Thursday, June 15 at 1:00 p.m., until then, he remains at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on $300,000 bail.
