Former Bedford Co. teacher pleads guilty to child porn charges

A former Bedford County Middle School teacher plead guilty Wednesday afternoon to 12 felony child pornography charges.

Stanley W. Deloach entered his guilty plea in Culpeper County Circuit Court before Judge John R. Cullen. Under the agreement, Cullen acknowledged that Deloach will not face further charges based on the facts of this case.

The charges stem from an incident that began last June when authorities say 48-year-old Deloach held sexually explicit online exchanges with an investigator posing as a teen girl.

Cullen ordered chat transcripts, photographs and other digital evidence submitted to the court by Culpeper County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Walther be sealed due to their pornographic nature.

During the 30 minute hearing, Virginia State Police investigator Marc F. Quince testified that he first encountered a Yahoo screen name, later connected to Deloach, in 2005 while investigating internet crimes in Clarke County. However, Quince said no evidence of a crime occurred at that time and the manpower to keep track of that lead was not available. Quince testified that he recognized the screen name when it surfaced again during a June 2007 investigation. Deloach was arrested in Bedford County July 11.

Quince also told the court there is no evidence to suggest Deloach had physical contact with minors.

The case is in Culpeper because the investigation originated with the Culpeper division of the State Police. The Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Appomattox and Salem divisions of the Virginia State Police, the Culpeper County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office also took part in the investigation.

Deloach will return to court Aug. 5 for sentencing. He faces a maximum of 110 years in prison if the maximum penalty is imposed on all the charges.

Deloach taught at Forest Middle School, and often took small groups of young teenagers on field trips, including some to WSLS.